A lovely stay in a French chateau
August 31, 2012 102 Comments
The Chateau de Sarceaux as viewed from the little lake in its sprawling grounds
I must have been a royal in previous life to have this extreme fascination for castles and palaces and anything royal and regal. Looking for a place to spend overnight somewhere in France, midway to our camping destination came easy with the many choices available through Booking.com. My husband outright told me that we should choose for something outside town because of parking consideration — our car is full with stuffs and we cannot take them out except for the overnight bag.
The chateau we’ve chosen was pretty secluded, with a good amount of wooded area and meadows to be traversed before we could reach it. Not a huge chateau but pretty cozy, we learned from its owners (a marquis and marquise) that they are already the 6th generation of inhabitants to this chateau. We were led to our reserved room which was really charming especially given the fact that the furnishings were still all original. It felt like a step back in time for us. The only seemingly modern feature in the room was the bathroom which was updated to modern times and had plenty of warm water, something uncharacteristic of typically spartan chateaus.
The marquis asked if we would like to have dinner at the chateau so we immediately said, “Oui”. Who wouldn’t want to dine in such a setting? Dinner was at 7:45pm but we first assembled in the living room where together with the other guests, were served aperitif and little snacks. It was nice to meet the other guests — an English couple who live near Cambridge and two old ladies (one Dutch and her English friend who was married to a Dutch man).
It was a lovely evening with lively conversation flowing over drinks and food. Dinner was served in the stately dining room which Francesca found wonderful especially with her faux jewels, feeling every inch the princess of the chateau. 
If you want to know more about this chateau, here’s link to some information: http://www.france-hotel-guide.com/en/14878-chateau-de-sarceaux-valframbert-en.php?langue=en
Another angle of the chateau
Father and daughter
Me and the chateau in the background
Our little princess
She became friends with this lovely dog
Lots of open spaces and new friends to make
Good boy!
Chase me Mam!
I love the simplicity of this chateau
Very old rose vines and the roses with the most amazing scent I’ve ever smelled
The living room where we assembled for aperitif and small bites later
The small room for Francesca which was connected to our bedroom
The fireplace in our bedroom — not in use anymore because the room in updated with modern heating system
Our bedroom
The bathroom
Simple and cozy feature of the bathroom
The scent from these fresh roses filled the room
The hallway at the first floor
Ground floor hallway
Another living room in the chateau
Small bites
Original pieces of period furniture
Father and daughter playing cards at the living room before dinner
The little princess at the dining room, feeling pretty much at home
The dinner guests
Salad of greens, avocado and shrimps
Dinner of veal stewed in white wine with chervil served with baked potatoes, tomatoes and mushrooms
Dessert of green apple sorbet drizzled with Calvados
The marquis serving the cheese platter
After dinner entertainment — we all went back to the living room for a bit of singing while the marquise played the music on the piano
The very enthusiastic marquise also led us into acapella singing of “Auld lang syne”
At the breakfast table with the other guests the next morning
French breakfast fare
Father and daughter
The chateau just before we left
Bitter sweet parting
