Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Need to know Take the train to Poitiers (90min
from Paris Montparnasse) then a 30min local TER
(Regional Express Train) to Lussac-les-Chateaux,
from where the owners will meet you (with a
trolley) and walk with you to the hotel (5min). For
train times see W www.sncf.co.uk; for prices and
bookings at the hotel see W www.lesorangeries.fr;
T +33 (0) 549 840 707.
067 hôtel leS oranGerieS,
luSSac-leS-chateaux, France
Start the day the French way: a morning dip in
a 35m tree-lined pool followed by breakfast in
a rose-filled garden with warm croissants and
pain au chocolat, home-made orange jam, hot
chocolate or strong coffee.
Hôtel les Orangeries is a wonderfully restored
eighteenth-century house with well-tended
gardens in an area renowned for superb cuisine
and fine wines. Nothing unusual about that:
you're in the heart of rural western France, after
all. Yet Hôtel les Orangeries takes matters one
step further with its commitment to “respect de
l'environnement”. It was the first French hotel
to be awarded the European Ecolabel; it serves
mainly organic and local produce; kitchen waste
is composted and used on the garden; rainwater
is harvested; and the power for hot water comes
from solar thermal panels.
But most guests don't come to hear about
kilowatt hours and management systems
for water leakage. They come to stay in a
magnificent hotel with French art de vivre , 21st-
century style. There are four-poster beds, oak
doors and insulated stone walls; on the top floor
there's a large games room with two billiard
tables, while downstairs is a smart dining room
with antique sideboards. All is managed with
typically polished service, though with a healthy
dose of green panache that even the French
aren't used to. “Tourisme durable”, so they say.
068 Go walkinG with a donkey,
France
Here's one way to keep the kids happy. Based in
the mountain village of Eourres, 35km west of
the town of Sisteron in Haute-Provence, English-
speaking company Bamboul'âne runs donkey-
trekking holidays in the National Regional Park
of the Baronnies, home to wild roe deer, chamois,
buzzards and eagles. They'll teach you basic
riding skills for the mountains as well as how to
pack-saddle your donkey.
You can stay at Bamboul'âne's farm campsite
and go on day-excursions with the donkeys,
winding up along a rocky ridge among green
pastureland and forests of ash and field maple
before returning to a cooked meal using produce
from the farm. If you have the confidence, you
can choose to leave the farm and go on two- to
ten-day circuits, staying in lodgings along the
way or sleeping out in your own tent.
A two-day circuit includes walking up to
pastures at 1600m, dining with shepherds in
the evening and spending the following day
with them as they tend their sheep. The six-day
Jabron Valley Circuit is a daily 10-12km ramble
and includes one night in the forest, two nights
by the Jabron River, one at a mountain farm and
a final night at a village on the Méouge River.
Need to know For prices, itineraries and bookings
see W bamboulane.free.fr; T +33 (0) 492 650
225. Alternatively, Itinerance ( W www.itinerance.net;
T +33 (0) 493 055 601) offers a one-week self-
guided donkey trek in the Mercantour National Park.
For a list of all other companies offering donkey
hikes in France see W www.ane-et-rando.com.
The pool at Hôtel les
Orangeries
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