Domaine de Saumarez Winery

We stayed at this hotel many times and love the location, great breakfast and Pet friendly. We always liked the people working there, but this time the reception was a little less customer friendly, but we worked it out in the end.

Imagine a dream where you are in the French countryside living in a castle, drinking beautiful wine, eating delicious food, surrounded by the most generous and hospitable people. This is that dream. This place, this stay, these people: all excellent. We are counting the seconds until we can come back again. Also special shout out to Elodie in the restaurant! Thank you for everything!

First impressions of the hotel were awful. On pulling into the parking area in front of the hotel, I thought, "Oh no. What have I done". The parking area felt unsafe. The hotel, and particularly the gardens, looked tired, dated and unkempt. It got worse. When we checked in, they had not got our reservation from Expedia so that took a while to sort out. We had paid extra for a better room but when we eventually got to the allocated room, it was a basic single - so we headed back to reception to get it changed. So why is this not a 1* review ? Once we were past the initial disappointment, we found that there was a separate, secure parking area. The room itself had been renovated and looked like the photos on Expedia. The bed was comfortable - so we got a great night's sleep. So, overall, we had to say that it was "OK".