A 19th-century château in southern France with unexpected interiors.
Think French country house and Dangerous Liaisons might come to mind, scandal in a manse rife with secret doors, hidden passageways, and elegant writing desks for penning gossipy missives and creating coldly manipulative plots. What you will find at Château D’Orfeuillette is contemporary romance: hanging perspex bubble seats, rocking chairs and jacuzzis, with brocade wallpaper and chandeliers to preserve the aristocratic air.
Château D’Orfeuillette is set in its own grounds, with 11 rooms and suites in the château and seven (smaller) guestrooms in the Orangery.
The color palette, for both guestrooms and bathrooms, is grey/silver with fuscia pink accents. Fluffy rugs and feather-trimmed lamps add a certain girlie factor.
Also prominent: ever-popular monochrome for more classical rooms. Rooms have plasma TVs and free WiFi.
The white lobby is particuarly striking with matching flowers and lamps, albeit somewhat clinical; like a post-plastic surgery getaway for eccentric millionaires.
Orfeuillette (your French accent will miraculously improve after a few glasses of Languedoc) has a gourmet restaurant serving haute cuisine (bien sûr), which features locally-caught game and fish; the region is also famous for its goat cheese, sweet onions and chestnuts, and as France’s largest organic wine producer. That rich French food can be worked off in a sleek indoor swimming pool or the heated outdoor one.
Fun interiors, superb local organic wine, and beautiful grounds for afternoon strolls, the château will either revitalise your current relationship or provide the perfect setting for an illicit tryst.
Rates from $112/night including tax, and a new spring in your step.
Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.