The Place
This is camargue chic, achieved at lavish expense by the owners, the Bons, whose cattle-branding mark appears on the crisp, white linen in an exquisite little hotel created out of an 18thC stable attached to their own house. Mme Bon, an architect and interior designer, has considerably altered the building to make lovely, spacious rooms with wooden beamed ceilings, sandstone floors, paintwork the colour of sugared almonds and enviable antiques. The whole ensemble feels like a wing for private guests rather than a hotel, which is the way that it’s meant to be.
Vegetables and herbs come from the garden and everyone eats – sometimes a little awkwardly – in the old-fashioned kitchen, from which inviting smells emanate before dinner. A harness hangs in the hall, shelves are filled with books; there’s a quiet little reading room, and a newspaper for the breakfast table. Frederic Bon, who breeds bulls and horses, is often in and out, inviting visitors to come and see his stock and his farm, on which he grows rice. The bedrooms are in classic country-style; some have cast-iron baths and little wooden staircases up to a galleried bathroom. There’s a discreet swimming pool hidden from the house.