Chateau d'Artigny Hotel in the Loire Valley

The Chateau d’Artigny sits splendidly on a high hill in over 60 acres of parkland overlooking the Indre river valley. Its gracious, white, stone façade gives you an idea of the high life of past grandees who have lived or stayed here.

With 63 rooms and apartments, the choice of accommodation is wide. The décor is as elegant as the building, with fabulous fabrics and antique furniture in the individually decorated rooms. Bathrooms are of a high standard, with marble walls and modern fittings.

You can choose to stay in the main chateau, or in the adjoining buildings, the Pavillon d’Ariane and the Pavillon de Chasse (the Hunting Lodge). There’s also the Moulin d’Artigny, a water mill with seven rooms down by the river, described by the Michelin guide as ‘very bucolic’.

The public rooms on the ground floor of the chateau stretch the length of the building. High ceilings, plastered walls and 18th-century colors give you a real sense of the stylish past.

Entertainment

The hotel's cooking lessons for beginners take you through the intricacies of classic French cooking. Saturday sessions last from 9am to noon, cost 75 per person and include lunch.

Nearby you’ll find a good range of sports and sightseeing, from clay pigeon shooting to go-karting, from hot air balloon flights to horse riding. For sightseeing, try the likes of Chateau d’Usse, known as Sleeping Beauty's Castle as it apparently inspired the fairytale, and nearby Tours.

Originally built in the 15th century, the building has gone through the usual upheavals such grand houses suffered, though it was spared during the French Revolution and housed the odd aristocrat in secret. Wings were destroyed and rebuilt, architectural styles came and went.

Then in 1912 it was bought by a Corsican patron of the arts, one Joseph Spoturno, better known as Francois Coty. Coty was an extremely astute man, becoming the first perfume industrialist and branching out from perfumes to face powder, all in the same scent. He was also the first to realize the power of beautiful bottles, such as those made for him by Rene Lalique.

Coty tore down the mix-and-match chateau and rebuilt it in 18th-century style, making it the last chateau to be built in the Loire valley. No pomp -- or expense -- was spared with the interior inspired by the chateau at Versailles. One of the highlights of the chateau is a remarkable painted trompe l’oeil ceiling, depicting a fancy dress party. the painting is so realistic that you almost believe that the party goers are up there, looking down on you from their vastly superior position. It occupies the dome of the music room; ask somebody to point out the various characters including Coty, his mistresses, and his wife, who took his fortune in a disasterous divorce settlement.

The building was finally bought in 1959 and turned into a luxury hotel, part of the family-owned Grandes Etapes Francaises group which owns nine chateaux and 4-star hotels throughout France.

The chateau’s dining room, L’Origan, looks out over the green valley below. Take a drink first in the bar with its locked glass-fronted cabinets holding an extraordinary collection of old armagnacs and cognacs, going back over a century. You can drink one from the year of your birth, or even buy a bottle if your budget will stand it.

The chef, Richard Prouteau, clearly revels in the rich local produce of France in dishes like scallops, marinated and roasted and served with lemon caviar for a starter, and his signature hare stuffed with foie gras and truffles.

This doesn’t come cheap, but in these surroundings and with the standard of cooking it's just right. The 3-course, a la carte dinner is around 80 euros per person; five-course menus are from 35 to 52 euros per person, and the top menu of six courses plus petits fours is 80 euros per person; the lunch menu is 35 euros per person. Needless to say, the wine list is superb, with plenty of top bottles to break the bank should you so wish.

In summer you can eat beside the open-air swimming pool from the good-value buffet at 28 euros per person.

Price of Rooms (Breakfast is not included): $$$-$$$$ What this means

Go onto their website for current offers and packages.