Fortnight in France:
Our sun-soaked sojourn in the
Dordogne, Languedoc and Provence
Our sun-soaked sojourn in the
Dordogne, Languedoc and Provence
Accommodations
We did not spend a lot of time searching for accommodations. In fact, once
the air reservations were locked in last October, we completed the
accommodations in relatively short order. And now we’re patting ourselves
on the back, as we were very happy with all.
Hotel de Vigniamont, Pezenas
We picked this hotel after a look at TripAdvisor, and wow, what a find.
Owners Tracy and Robert have converted this old, three-story townhouse
into a lovely small hotel with four or five rooms, an attractive guest lounge
and a rooftop terrace. We booked the Grand Vigniamont suite so that we
would have sufficient room for three. It is lovely and well-appointed, with
high ceilings and tall windows that look out onto an attractive old municipal
building across the street which now houses a school (it was fun watching
parents walk the kids in to school in the mornings). The suite includes two
rooms, nicely furnished with antiques, and a large, modern bathroom with
high-quality bath products. A tray of fresh fruit, wine, water and coffee/teas
was waiting for us in the room – always welcome after 10+ hours of flying
and a four-hour drive.
Even better is the warm welcome and hospitality. Tracy and Robert host a
‘raid the pantry’ cocktail hour on the top-floor terrace every evening,
providing an opportunity to share the day’s adventures with other guests
and sample local wines. Tracy studied at the Cordon Bleu cooking school,
and her selection of appetizers is delicious, as is breakfast each morning
(selection of meats, cheeses, cereals, fruit, and breads, along with eggs
cooked to order). They also host a dinner each Monday, but we missed
that, unfortunately. All in all, a lovely place and a great way to start the trip.
We’d call this one of the nicest places we’ve ever stayed and highly
recommend it. Grand Vigniamont Suite, 145€ per night for three, including
breakfast and cocktail hour.
www.hoteldevigniamont.com
Rental home, Daglan, Simply Perigord
As we did last year, we started our search for a rental property by finding a
well-regarded agency, and then took it from there. Simply Perigord offered
a variety of properties throughout the Dordogne. Our primary criterion was
an in-town setting in a village just big enough to have some conveniences
but not so big that traffic and/or parking would be an issue. Beyond that, we
looked at location, presence of a washer (and preferably dryer), and
character of the property (from photos). We hit the jackpot with the house
we selected in Daglan.
The former home of the village tailor, it is an old stone building with walls
about two feet thick – good when the weather is warm because the house
stays nicely cool. We put it at about 200 years old. The large dining room
table used to be the tailor’s work table. It is two stories, almost two full
homes in one. There are kitchens on both levels, although the main floor
kitchen is the primary one with full-sized refrigerator, electric oven/range,
dishwasher, and washer and dryer. There are two bedrooms upstairs,
along with a full bath. The downstairs dining and sitting rooms have
several daybeds to accommodate more people, as well as another full
bath. Whatever you might need – hairdryer, iron, stereo, wine openers –
there are several to choose from in the house, unless of course you are
baking a casserole…then there are about two dozen casserole dishes
from which to choose! The decorating is a bit eclectic but tasteful. One of
the best features, though, was the large back patio and yard, decorated
with flowers and ivy and furnished with a table, chairs and barbeque. We
spent many hours enjoying the patio – and the whole house. It is very easy
to feel at home here, and very hard to leave. One week rental, including
linen at mid-season rates: 858€.
Take a look: www.simply-perigord.com/house185.html
We’ll add that Simply Perigord was very easy to work with and we would be
happy to recommend it as an agency.
Mas des Carassins, St. Remy de Provence
This small hotel just out of the center of St. Remy came highly
recommended here. It did have the unfortunate distinction of coming right
after having an entire two-story home to ourselves, so initially, our room
seemed a little small and plain. The absolute best feature of this hotel is
its grounds and lovely gardens. We enjoyed our breakfast in the garden
every morning. The room was generally comfortable, although we did find
ourselves tripping over all of our stuff at times. The hotel serves dinner in
the garden five nights per week, including two of the nights we were there;
however, we did not partake. Allie said ‘no’ to the sea bass on the first
night, and although the second night’s veal menu sounded (and smelled)
very good, we were all much too full to take on a four-course meal that
night. We loved the very casual, laid-back atmosphere here, as well as the
little bulldog, Zazou, who had the run of the grounds. The pool was nice, if
a bit chilly. We enjoyed a quiet dip and a little relaxation after our days out
touring in the area – that is, after Allie got over the shock that she would be
sharing the pool area with women sunbathing topless (please note: her
mom was NOT one of them). All in all, this was a lovely place to stay. Nice,
quiet location, too. Garden-view double with extra bed and mandatory
breakfast: 181€ per night.
www.alpilles.fr/masdescarassins/index.html
Hotel Le Grimaldi, Nice
We really wished we had more time to spend here. We liked the town a lot,
and we really liked this hotel. We’d reserved a junior suite, but due to a mix
up, it was not available. The lesser-priced but similarly sized superior
double was more than adequate; the only difference was that it had one
bathroom rather than two. The bathroom we did have was quite nice. In
fact, Marisa wanted to take it home. She took copious photos for future
reference. It was fully tiled in the same Italian ceramic tile that we used in
our kitchen, with a huge walk-in shower, a separate tub, large double sink
and nice Italian bath products. Service was exceptional. Every staff
member bent over backwards to make us feel welcome and to help out –
for example, with our desperate attempt to locate the Hertz office and return
the car. A bonus was the free Internet service in the lobby. The location is
several blocks off the Promenade des Anglais, but that was fine. Our sixth-
floor room had both a courtyard view and a view down on to the church next
door. It was a five-minute walk to the Promenade and about 20 minutes to
the heart of Vieux Nice. We will stay here when we return to Nice –
hopefully someday soon. Superior double with extra bed, no breakfast –
215€.
www.le-grimaldi.com
Next > The other logistics
See all of our photos on Webshots
our travels
home
contact us
We did not spend a lot of time searching for accommodations. In fact, once
the air reservations were locked in last October, we completed the
accommodations in relatively short order. And now we’re patting ourselves
on the back, as we were very happy with all.
Hotel de Vigniamont, Pezenas
We picked this hotel after a look at TripAdvisor, and wow, what a find.
Owners Tracy and Robert have converted this old, three-story townhouse
into a lovely small hotel with four or five rooms, an attractive guest lounge
and a rooftop terrace. We booked the Grand Vigniamont suite so that we
would have sufficient room for three. It is lovely and well-appointed, with
high ceilings and tall windows that look out onto an attractive old municipal
building across the street which now houses a school (it was fun watching
parents walk the kids in to school in the mornings). The suite includes two
rooms, nicely furnished with antiques, and a large, modern bathroom with
high-quality bath products. A tray of fresh fruit, wine, water and coffee/teas
was waiting for us in the room – always welcome after 10+ hours of flying
and a four-hour drive.
Even better is the warm welcome and hospitality. Tracy and Robert host a
‘raid the pantry’ cocktail hour on the top-floor terrace every evening,
providing an opportunity to share the day’s adventures with other guests
and sample local wines. Tracy studied at the Cordon Bleu cooking school,
and her selection of appetizers is delicious, as is breakfast each morning
(selection of meats, cheeses, cereals, fruit, and breads, along with eggs
cooked to order). They also host a dinner each Monday, but we missed
that, unfortunately. All in all, a lovely place and a great way to start the trip.
We’d call this one of the nicest places we’ve ever stayed and highly
recommend it. Grand Vigniamont Suite, 145€ per night for three, including
breakfast and cocktail hour.
www.hoteldevigniamont.com
Rental home, Daglan, Simply Perigord
As we did last year, we started our search for a rental property by finding a
well-regarded agency, and then took it from there. Simply Perigord offered
a variety of properties throughout the Dordogne. Our primary criterion was
an in-town setting in a village just big enough to have some conveniences
but not so big that traffic and/or parking would be an issue. Beyond that, we
looked at location, presence of a washer (and preferably dryer), and
character of the property (from photos). We hit the jackpot with the house
we selected in Daglan.
The former home of the village tailor, it is an old stone building with walls
about two feet thick – good when the weather is warm because the house
stays nicely cool. We put it at about 200 years old. The large dining room
table used to be the tailor’s work table. It is two stories, almost two full
homes in one. There are kitchens on both levels, although the main floor
kitchen is the primary one with full-sized refrigerator, electric oven/range,
dishwasher, and washer and dryer. There are two bedrooms upstairs,
along with a full bath. The downstairs dining and sitting rooms have
several daybeds to accommodate more people, as well as another full
bath. Whatever you might need – hairdryer, iron, stereo, wine openers –
there are several to choose from in the house, unless of course you are
baking a casserole…then there are about two dozen casserole dishes
from which to choose! The decorating is a bit eclectic but tasteful. One of
the best features, though, was the large back patio and yard, decorated
with flowers and ivy and furnished with a table, chairs and barbeque. We
spent many hours enjoying the patio – and the whole house. It is very easy
to feel at home here, and very hard to leave. One week rental, including
linen at mid-season rates: 858€.
Take a look: www.simply-perigord.com/house185.html
We’ll add that Simply Perigord was very easy to work with and we would be
happy to recommend it as an agency.
Mas des Carassins, St. Remy de Provence
This small hotel just out of the center of St. Remy came highly
recommended here. It did have the unfortunate distinction of coming right
after having an entire two-story home to ourselves, so initially, our room
seemed a little small and plain. The absolute best feature of this hotel is
its grounds and lovely gardens. We enjoyed our breakfast in the garden
every morning. The room was generally comfortable, although we did find
ourselves tripping over all of our stuff at times. The hotel serves dinner in
the garden five nights per week, including two of the nights we were there;
however, we did not partake. Allie said ‘no’ to the sea bass on the first
night, and although the second night’s veal menu sounded (and smelled)
very good, we were all much too full to take on a four-course meal that
night. We loved the very casual, laid-back atmosphere here, as well as the
little bulldog, Zazou, who had the run of the grounds. The pool was nice, if
a bit chilly. We enjoyed a quiet dip and a little relaxation after our days out
touring in the area – that is, after Allie got over the shock that she would be
sharing the pool area with women sunbathing topless (please note: her
mom was NOT one of them). All in all, this was a lovely place to stay. Nice,
quiet location, too. Garden-view double with extra bed and mandatory
breakfast: 181€ per night.
www.alpilles.fr/masdescarassins/index.html
Hotel Le Grimaldi, Nice
We really wished we had more time to spend here. We liked the town a lot,
and we really liked this hotel. We’d reserved a junior suite, but due to a mix
up, it was not available. The lesser-priced but similarly sized superior
double was more than adequate; the only difference was that it had one
bathroom rather than two. The bathroom we did have was quite nice. In
fact, Marisa wanted to take it home. She took copious photos for future
reference. It was fully tiled in the same Italian ceramic tile that we used in
our kitchen, with a huge walk-in shower, a separate tub, large double sink
and nice Italian bath products. Service was exceptional. Every staff
member bent over backwards to make us feel welcome and to help out –
for example, with our desperate attempt to locate the Hertz office and return
the car. A bonus was the free Internet service in the lobby. The location is
several blocks off the Promenade des Anglais, but that was fine. Our sixth-
floor room had both a courtyard view and a view down on to the church next
door. It was a five-minute walk to the Promenade and about 20 minutes to
the heart of Vieux Nice. We will stay here when we return to Nice –
hopefully someday soon. Superior double with extra bed, no breakfast –
215€.
www.le-grimaldi.com
Next > The other logistics
See all of our photos on Webshots
our travels
home
contact us
Hotel de Vigniamont, Pezenas
Hotel de Vigniamont, Pezenas
Daglan rental home
Mas des Carassins, St. Remy de
Provence
Provence
Hotel le Grimaldi, Nice
View from our room
View from our room
Hotel le Grimaldi, Nice
The great bathroom (about a 1/3 of it,
anyway)
The great bathroom (about a 1/3 of it,
anyway)
