The autumn sun in the Drôme

From her house, Laetitia Moine, who is also a professional of the hotel trade (she worked for the Accor group...), sweetly says that she "is in the middle of a flag, blue like lavender, green like vines and yellow like sunflowers" and she adds while laughing "pure extract of Drôme Provençale!".

The scenery is set, at the foot of the lovely village of Valaurie and its "santons" (typical ornamental figurines of Provence).

It is really a hotel, a three star hotel, perfectly within the standards, but if the faithful team who support the owner know how to provide all the services that one has the right to expect from professionals, the place itself, an old mill, is above all an intimate house with its particular charm.

The 3,5 hectares park, on the bank of the Berre river, is entirely closed. One can relax there, by a lake, a swimming pool, or profit from the tennis court.

Of course, all the rooms are different, they bear charming names, such as the room of the Cocks, that of Uncle Paul, that of the ‘Petite Marquise'. One of them even has a therapy bath-tub and a sauna.

Sitting down at table, on the terrace to profit from the mild evenings of the beginning of autumn (we are after all at the gates to the South...), you will taste the cuisine of the chef, Julien Bragard, who gives preference to local products, such as: a "Petite bouillabaisse en gelée" (small fish soup in jelly), a "filet d'agneau sur piperade provençale", (fillet of lamb with stewed vegetables of Provence), a "arlequin aux prunes et abricots" (harlequin with plums and apricots). But these are only examples... If this is not happiness, frankly it resembles it!