L'Arcane du Bellay

What a delightful place to spend a couple of nights. We were welcomed by Nathalie who showed us around her lovely garden with caves in the rear walls and a swimming pool which, sadly, we did not have time to use. Our room was spacious and airy with a super king size bed and nice linen. Breakfast was in a beautifully furnished dining room and we were treated to home made pancakes with home made jams . Nathalie had also made a home made dish of almonds and creme fraiche. There was a choice of teas, coffee, fruit juice, bread and croissants. It was only a short walk into the centre for dinner but sadly the restaurants close on Tuesday & Wednesday evenings (the two nights we were there!), only one restaurant was open - The Hotel Splendid where we ate on Tuesday night but they do not change the small menu at all so had to go into Saumur on Wednesday as we did not want the same again. Apart from that we thoroughly enjoyed our short stay and meeting Nathalie. Beware - Nathalie does not have a card terminal so you must make sure you have cash to pay.

Where to start? Nathalie was absolutely wonderful. She made us feel incredibly welcome, and provides the most amazing breakfasts, all fresh and much of it home made. (The fig jam was out of this world!) She showed us around her beautiful gardens, with the troglodyte caves - really fascinating, and the pool looked so inviting - just a shame it wasn’t quite hot enough for us to dare a dip. The room was lovely, plenty of space and the bed was really, really comfortable. Plenty of hot water too, which isn’t always guaranteed in a b&b. Nathalie was very knowledgeable about the local area, and recommended plenty of places to eat and to visit. An all round perfect host and home, we really didn’t want to leave. But we will be back - and we’ll have practiced our French a LOT more when we return!

We were visiting an old friend in Montreuil Bellay who had no space to accommodate us and searched on line for a suitable place to stay. It is certainly a lovely characterful building with quirky electrics and a nice garden although sadly the pool was not in use for some of our warm week. We did not have breakfast as we were out to dinner every night with our friend until late but certainly the table always looked very pretty. We were provided with sachets of tea and milk to make tea in the room. Nathalie made a useful suggestion for a trip out for us. Clean towels were not provided so we had the same ones all week, our bathroom was never cleaned, not what I expect from a place like this that isn’t cheap by any means. Our bed never changed or made up.

Emplacement idéal pour se poser et se reposer dans le jardin près de la piscine ou dedans, ou la chambre au lit très confortable. L'accueil est les prestations sont au rendez-vous !

Déception...la réalité ne ressemble pas à la photo, le jardin n'était pas du tout entretenu, (piscine non disponible à cette période), il faut essayer d'éviter des branches quand on est dans l'escalier extérieur qui permet d'arriver à la porte de la chambre (avec une valise, encore mieux pour tomber!), et la poignée du portillon qui reste quasiment dans la main! La chambre est très jolie, mais des toiles d'araignées partout (et pas seulement au plafond qui est haut ce qui pourrait expliquer): dans les miroirs de salle de bains, à côté des chevets, dans les coins...pas de gel douche; radiateur qui ne fonctionnait pas, les volets ne vont pas jusqu'en haut de la fenêtre (donc il fait jour dans la chambre dès le levé du jour). Literie très très moelleuse, aucun maintien. Au petit déjeuner, aucun fruit frais sur nos trois matins, aucun laitage, panecakes le premier matin et...panecakes restants le dernier matin; réflexion car les deux croissants ne sont pas mangés le deuxième jour, du coup, pas de croissant le troisième jour! Et pour finir, notre hôte nous dit qu'elle sera absente à l'heure de notre départ, qu'on laisse la clef dans la chambre, donc relationnel vraiment à revoir...peut être en lien avec le fait qu'elle semblait déçue à notre arrivée car elle nous a dit penser avoir un couple d'amoureux ( j'y étais avec ma fille de 16 ans).