Domaine des Etangs review- the accommodation

This is part of a series about our stay at Domaine des Etangs. Make sure to read the overview (and view the video tour) and then follow along for more information about the accommodation, the food, the activities and the suitability for families.

Castle, “longère” or cottages, you’re sure to find the right room for you

There are three categories of accommodation in the Domaine. You can either choose

7 bedrooms in the castle, they are named after planets
4 bedrooms in the “longère” this long building where the restaurant is; They are named after seasons
6 cottages with 2 to 4 bedrooms scattered around the estate. They are named after comets

Superb decor in every room

You can easily see on the site the style and decoration of each one of them. It’s good to know what you are facing although any view is fantastic!

The rooms at the front of the castle have view of the entrance of the domain, the restaurant and terraces and the lakes on the side. The ones with view to the back of the castle will have a nice interrupted view of the French gardens and the lake again.

From an evacuation plan, I figured the following for the rooms in the castle

Jupiter : facing entrance
Venus: facing the mill and the French gardens
Soleil: facing entrance and the conservatory on the side
Lune: 2^nd floor, in the turret, facing the French gardens

IN any case it’s all pretty and peaceful.

Our room: suite Jupiter

We had suite Jupiter which was on the first floor of the castle. We chose it because of its brighter decoration of white and blue. The other rooms, some in the turrets, can be a bit dark for my liking.

We really liked the pale wood parquet floor and the fresh beige stones in the bathroom.

The big windows opening up to let the breeze in were my favourite. I leaned over to admire the lake many times from them.

The bed was really comfortable with the right plushness for the pillows. The TV was in the room and hidden in a cabinet so you would use a remote to get it out. Only issue with this is that you can’t then tilt the TV towards you but frankly, when you are in this kind of place, TV watching is the last thing you should do.

Nice vast bathroom with very fancy toiletries from the very select Florence Farmacia di Santa Novella. The towels were the softest we’ve had too!

Design and art pieces everywhere!

When you have a room in the castle, you have full free use of all the lounges. We didn’t get to use them much as it was so beautiful outside when we were there. In greyer days, they certainly have everything to help you fill the time.

For instance, there are so many art pieces, objects, artefacts, fabrics to observe individually. You could also just marvel at the renovation of the place, admire the stones, the fittings, the way they perfectly matched classic French style with interior design pieces, the wood work etc… Do have a look at the pictures to get a sense of it.

Restored cottages for French antique fans!

For total privacy, you can also rent cottages that are scattered around the domain. During our bike tour (see the post on activities for more info), we came across a workman who let us in two of them.

In one of them we discovered an amazing fireplace made with a mix of old stones and bricks. There was a very ingenious poulie system to turn the massive roasting broch. Another poulie system was lifting the cover to the downstairs cellar and wine tasting area where jeroboams of champagne were waiting in open boxes. Very tempting but I think I would have easily been spotted if I had tried to take one with me on the bike!