Château d'Arpaillargues

The garden has a lot of weeds, and the place is badly maintained overall. The rooms are in awful shape and feel very old: there’s a bad smell, some lights don’t work, and the furniture and plumbing are extremely old. Good value? No. Luxurious? Not at all.

The hotel itself is lovely, and so are the staff and restaurant. Room 1 was comfortable and nice, and I appreciated the induction charger for a mobile phone in the room. But it’s on the top floor, and the hot water had almost no flow or pressure. I couldn’t shower before leaving in the morning. I waited over 10 minutes just to get some “hot” water from the tap.

The restaurant was lovely and the food was very good, though exceptionally expensive for what you get. One of us paid 28 euros for a lamb dish and got a single chop, a small meaty bonbon, and some vegetables. I’d return, but only for a night or two. The building is very old and full of character, with lush grounds and a pretty room whose doors opened straight into the garden. There are a couple of tradeoffs: the rooms don’t have air conditioning, and even in May we had to sleep with the doors open for air. It was cool enough then, but I imagine hotter months could be uncomfortable. The bathrooms also have visible mould and damp damage, which may put some people off.

The garden setting by the pool was lovely for informal meals, and the food was very nice. Staff were friendly, the building is beautiful, and everything was clean and comfortable. The rooms aren’t finished or sized to a four-star standard, but the price isn’t either. There’s a decent car park and an amazingly huge pool.