Château de la Barre

An excellent stay making the most of the combination of a relaxing rural setting, beautiful swimming pool, historical building, elegant furnishings, refined cuisine and wine cellar. Also well placed to visit the Loire region. Highly recommended.

Who wouldn’t want a chateau experience? We were looking to do something quite special for the second half of our holiday in France, and after exchanging emails with the Comtesse - and a telephone conversation - we booked a stay for 5 nights, keen to explore the family’s beautiful historic chateau filled to the brim with priceless antiques and family heirlooms. The good We were warmly received by the Comtesse, who greeted us on the driveway. We were offered an upgrade to the idyllic blue room (simply stunning - and huge; I felt like a Princess in a fairytale), and given a scrumptious bottle of homemade cider to enjoy in the garden. Accommodation: stunning. No other word for it. With 3 huge windows facing out onto the garden, it was bright and light, framed by glorious blue wood shutters. The delightful antique furniture was a joy to behold and use; and the enormous armoire-style wardrobe was Narnia-worthy. The mattress was really comfortable, and I could wax lyrical for days about the quality of the embroidered bed linen and towels, etc. (vintage fabrics and vintage china is my passion). Under two weighty wool blankets, it was easy to fall asleep in the peace and quiet of the surrounding countryside. There were also tea-making facilities, delicious tea assortment, and delicate blue china cups and saucers. The bathroom was enormous, with 3 tapestries hanging on the walls. We didn’t get time to enjoy the jacuzzi bath, but the shower pressure was good. The fluffy towels and guest robes (all embroidered with the family crest or the name of the chateau) were sumptuous, along with the Chopard range of toiletries. Luxurious, for sure. Accessibility: as you may expect with such a historic building, there is little adaption that can be made if you have limited mobility. However, I was able to get around the grounds, the house and the stone circular staircase to the guest bedrooms with ease. The gardens and grounds are on slopes, so this may be tricky to navigate if you wished to descend steps into the formal gardens. You can reach the pool straight from the house, a few steps off the gravel driveway. Facilities: we didn’t make use of the outdoor pool as the weather had turned autumnal and damp, but the pool area was well maintained with lots of space to sit and relax in the sunshine. The drawing room, dining room, breakfast room - all were filled to the rafters with astonishingly-beautiful antiques. The Comtesse was fascinating to talk to, as every piece had a history, even the tableware. There is also a chapel onsite. The formal gardens (beyond the garden area directly outside the front of the chateau) were slowly turning from summer to autumn but were still very pretty, and you are able to walk around the surrounding fields. The Comtesse is the star attraction, as she knows all the best places to visit (and best times) and will help you get the best of your time there. We were grateful for her advice to get to Le Mans in time for mass on the Sunday, and where to park; also for her dinner reservation choice on the Sunday evening (day 2). Food/Drinks: A continental breakfast was offered as part of the room rate, and it was truly delicious. Freshly-baked croissants, home-made breads (a nice variety), fresh creamy scrambled eggs straight from the chickens that morning. Piping hot coffee, seasonal fresh fruit salad, yoghurts assortment, plus a variety of hams and local cheeses (oh my gosh, the lightly spiced goats cheese was one of the best things I have ever tasted), and homemade jams. The loganberry jam was so good I’d loved to have bought some home. Lunch and dinner isn’t offered, but on our first night we were glad of the Comtesse’s culinary skills for a regal dinner experience in the dining room, matched with wines and calvados to perfection. The table was laid out so beautifully with purple candles on the silver candlesticks, and heritage tableware. We went to bed with full, happy bellies. The not-so-good The chateau is in a rural location (as you might expect, given what it is) and located down a winding private road, so is fairly easy to miss the turning when coming from the direction of Le Mans. (As we did, twice!). Be prepared to do some driving in order to visit some of the beautiful parts of the Loire Valley waiting for you. Alas, we didn’t get to experience the full chateau experience - including the tour of the chateau and the chapel, and nearby vineyard and wine-tasting as part of the reservation - as we cut our stay short after just 2 nights, after an unprovoked attack by one of the dogs where my husband got bitten on his leg. We had rung the doorbell to alert everyone of our return from sightseeing in Le Mans, and dried off for an hour in our room before descending the stairs to check where our dinner reservation was for. Mercifully the teeth didn’t appear to penetrate the skin (tearing the jeans), just deep bruising from what we could see. We were offered soothing arnica gel to help ease the stinging. On our return from dinner, we were still feeling shaken by the encounter, and shared we didn’t feel safe in the chateau despite assurances the dog would be shut away in another area when we were in the house. After a restless night, we decided to make our way home (and pay the excess to change our crossing time) as we didn’t want to stay somewhere that we felt we could no longer roam around in freely, having to second-guess if it was safe to come down. The Comtesse offered to find us an alternative venue to continue with our Loire Valley break, but we’d booked this 5 day chateau experience specifically to relax and decompress after a very difficult, traumatic 12 months. Sadly the damage had been done, just 24 hours into our stay. Our bodies were back in red-alert mode, and we felt compelled to head back home to safety and familiar surroundings, and get my husband’s leg checked out. It’s with much disappointment that we didn’t get to enjoy the whole experience fully because of this incident, and we returned home feeling that our very real fear and upset had been somewhat brushed aside. We paid in good faith for the two nights, despite the incident happening just 24 hours after our arrival, and were a little stung by being told that we weren’t being charged a cancellation fee for the remaining nights. Notwithstanding the fact that you don’t expect to be attacked by a dog that you’d spent time with the day before, giving ear rubs to. We were left out of pocket - not just by cutting short our much-needed holiday, but paid our excess fee for rescheduling our return trip home, and a pair of designer jeans that were new and can’t be used any more. Thankfully ‘tho, the jeans came to the rescue otherwise we would have been heading off for a tetanus vaccination, at least. 

 I would recommend seeking out the Comtesse for her encyclopaedic knowledge of the area (and France); she’s also a really interesting lady to speak with. 

 I cannot recommend staying at the chateau, as beautiful as it is, with this incident so fresh in our minds.

This is a mixed review. Great- Marnie did an excellent job arranging tour guides for us. The fun de siècle dinner was lovely. Not at all great- just as we arrived, I exit the car, her dog runs over and bites me. Bad bite! Breaks skin. I needed antibiotics. Owner does not feel this warrants financial compensation because I did not complain enough while there. She knew! But after the incident day, never asked again how I was. A dog bite is absolutely not ok. That is not a safe environment and the response was definitely inadequate. Not happy.

This is the ultimate chateaux experience in France-combined with a host who is an expert on arranging tours of France and in fact all of Europe. Exceptional and the rooms are full of museum quality antiques.

Our 2-night stay at this chateau was disappointing from beginning to end. Our rooms were freezing cold and tired, we never felt welcomed by our hostess and we were charged exorbitant prices for everything we did. The location is not good. It is very far from everything and there is nothing to do at the property so your only option is to travel great distances to other chateaus and restaurants, etc. I would not recommend it to anyone.