“Possibly the château of your wildest French dreams”.The extraordinaire Château Les Crayères sits in seven
hectares of beautifully tended grounds, just a few minutes’ stroll from the
major champagne houses in Reims. Pommery, Veuve Clicquot, and Taittinger, for
instance, offer tastings and tours giving a fascinating peek into the crayères,
pyramid-shaped Gallo-Roman chalk quarries turned Champagne cellars, brimming
with millions of precious bottles. It’s a five-minute cab ride or 30-minute
walk into central Reims, which is a 45-minute TGV ride from Paris Est.
You’ll feel like French royalty the minute you arrive at
this grandest of châteaux and clap eyes on its elegant colonnade, Belle
Epoque-style mansard roof, and topiary-framed parterre. The mood is hushed and
exclusive, the décor ornate. We’re talking sweeping marble staircases, salons
festooned with gilt-framed oil paintings, corridors with padded wall coverings
in deepest claret red, highly polished silverware, and antiques everywhere.
It’s decadent and romantic - a Versailles in miniature that is the stuff of
honeymoons and weekend-away liaisons.
As you might expect in a hotel of this caliber – built for
Louise Pommery, Duchess of Polignac, in 1904 – the service is formal and
flawless. There’s an air of discretion, but a full concierge service is
provided should you so wish. Besides swanning around the grounds, you’ll almost
certainly want to factor in a champagne tasting at one of the nearby cellars. The
hotel can arrange activities from horse riding to golf and tennis and organizes
a number of clubs and classes – from yoga to wine lectures.
The palatial décor extends to the rooms, of which there are
just 20 – all special and no two alike. Many are a fine weft of rococo and
Belle Epoque styles, with heavy drapes, richly patterned fabrics, and a nod to
Louis XV in the antique furnishings. The windows open onto Juliet balconies
overlooking the gardens, the bathrooms all differ – some are marble, some have
showers, other tubs – and all come with luscious Hermès toiletries. A knock on
your hotel room when you arrive? That will be the butler bringing you a glass
of champagne on the house – rather a nice Bienvenue.
Even at breakfast, they never miss a trick here – there are
freshly squeezed juices and fruits, oven-warm pastries and bread, homemade
spreads, yogurts, and panna cotta, and eggs to order – all served à la carte and
with a silver-salver flourish. Gastronomes come from far and wide to Les
Crayères for two-Michelin-starred Le Parc restaurant, where head chef Philippe
Mille takes pride in regional sourcing and puts his own stamp on dishes such as
duck foie gras poached in rosé champagne and hibiscus wine-flavored pear with
saffron-infused fruits.
Domaine Les Crayeres
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