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The restaurant was lovely too, with friendly service and gourmet food. The dessert was especially good. Our apartment was the best accommodation of the trip: stylish, beautifully decorated, and full of useful features, right across the square from the cathedral. Absolutely excellent. We’ll be back soon, and recommend it without hesitation.

A friendly heads-up: being right in front of Laon cathedral means the surrounding restaurants have terraces, and the square and street can get noisy in summer when the weather’s good. In August, there was also a wonderful lights and sounds show in the square that ran past midnight. Bring earplugs or plan to stay out late. Don’t let that put you off this very nice town. Our room was clean and a good size, with a decent bed and bathroom, including a large sink, rain shower and separate toilet. It had carpet and a fairly low ceiling with large wooden beams. Good value overall.

There’s no air conditioning or fans, which is worth knowing in hot weather, though the apartment catches a nice breeze with the windows open. We’d planned a quiet last night before heading to Calais, with an unbeatable view of one of France’s finest Gothic cathedrals. Instead, a fantastic Son et Lumière was projected onto the façade from 10:00-23:30, so the evening was pretty loud. We watched the show and the Closing Ceremony of the Paris Olympics at the same time, and had a wonderful time.

The downstairs restaurant served us a delicious duck dinner, and the staff were friendly and efficient. The accommodation was huge: a large bedroom and sitting room, a kitchen, and another bedroom-sitting room. Everything felt very new, and the kitchen had all the utensils you could want. It’s well located by the cathedral, with parking on the road about 100 yards away. We hope to return.