Le Fleuray Hotel & Restaurant

The restaurant has a lovely terrace and friendly staff. The food was nice and reasonably priced, though watch out for the markup on half bottles of wine. Our half bottle of Chinon Elegance red was €26, an unusually high increase that the owners defended as normal. At the winery it was about €5.50 for a half bottle, €10.90 for a full bottle, and €24 for a magnum. The hotel is pleasant and rural, with British-style decor, decent rooms, and good-sized bathrooms, complete with shower curtains.

You really have to eat here. Each course was a wonderful surprise, beautifully presented and exquisite, Michelin-star level. I’ve had many dinners at expensive places around Europe, but this meal stood out. The area is very quiet, and our twin room was small but comfortable, with everything working properly.

We arrived at 5pm to find no running water in the bathroom, and reception hadn’t told us. When we complained, they said there was nothing they could do and couldn’t say when it would return because the water company had a major problem. They didn’t offer bottled water until we demanded it later. Reception staff had a very poor attitude, as if they didn’t care. Water came back in the middle of the night, then was cut off again the next afternoon. We complained and got more bottled water, and had to ask for a bucket of water to flush the toilet. The restaurant’s breakfast buffet was poor and not worth €17. Dinner was acceptable, but very overpriced. Other restaurants nearby serve better food for much less. During the two days without water, we tried to contact Hotels.com to move to another hotel. Their automated system didn’t work properly, so it took a dozen attempts to reach an agent. We asked to change hotels; the agent said they’d contact the hotel, then the call dropped. After many more tries, we reached another agent, but that call dropped too. They never called back or did anything, and I wasted my time trying to reach them. We’ll never use Hotels.com or Logis Hotels again.

The food is the main reason to come. The staff and service were very good, and both the menu choices and prices were good too. The wines weren’t to my taste. I ordered three different bottles of whites and reds described as non-dry, but they all seemed on the dry side. The accommodation felt a little too expensive for what it was, and the photos on Google and the website are misleading. Despite what we were told when booking and on the phone, we didn’t get a room in a picturesque vintage house. It was a more modern room in a multi-room building on the grounds. If the accommodation and wines had matched the natural scenery and food, I’d have given it five stars.