L'Oustal de Vézac

We think this is an excellent hotel in a fantastic location. The rooms are consistently clean and have good storage, the pool is fantastic, and breakfast is great. Friends visiting from America always tell us it's their favorite hotel when they travel around France with us.

From the hotel you can see the Garden and two Castles, and it's centrally placed for the sightseeing spots. Our room was clean, with a back door opening onto an open terrace furnished with chairs and tables and a nice view. There's also a swimming pool. Owner Dominic was friendly and patient as he talked us through places to visit. We'd stay again if we come back.

At first, this hotel seemed to have what we needed: family rooms with a mezzanine, comfortable surroundings, a pool, a good location, and friendly staff. But over our couple of days there, tension grew between families with children and older couples, especially around sharing the pool. Some of the older guests seemed to resent children doing anything other than swimming lengths. That felt unreasonable for a hotel advertising family accommodation. We witnessed a verbal argument between parents of one group of children and some unfriendly childless couples. The children, aged 3-11, seemed very well behaved to me and followed what I understood to be the rules about diving and pushing. The older guests seemed to interpret the rules differently, preferring complete quiet and no splashing at the poolside. One of the owners was asked to mediate the continuing dispute. She seemed to do little beyond shrugging and saying she was in a difficult position. If families are going to be made to feel so unwelcome by other guests, perhaps the hotel would suit adults only better. Between the dispute, the lack of respect shown by some guests to everyone paying to stay there, young and old, and the owner's apathetic response, we felt uncomfortable for the rest of our stay. That's reflected in my rating.

The location in the middle of the valley is fantastic, with great views all around and three castles to see and visit. The pool was nice, and the family room had recently been modernized, with a mezzanine for the kids and a great monsoon shower. Breakfast gets plenty of mentions, and we loved it too: a superb spread of local and homemade food. It costs ten euros for adults and half price for children. It's a shame there's no evening food. We didn't use the bar because we always drove elsewhere for meals. Even better than we'd expected!