Grand Hôtel de l'Abbaye

We stayed in this beautiful Abbey on the way home to NL via France from north of Spain. What a pretty town on the banks of the Loire. We had a beautiful room with a lovely ensuite. We enjoyed dinner in the hotel restaurant, fantastic local cuisine with delicious wine. Quite a romantic spot and definitely worth trying.

The hotel is in an impressive building which could lend itself to an really inspiring experience. This was not the case. When we booked the hotel we noted that there was no lift and that the restaurant menu seemed quite limited. We arrived at about 1pm on a very hot day to find the hotel closed for lunch. This had to be ascertained by asking a lady leaving for her lunch break as there were no signs to indicate lunchtime closing. The hotel opened again at bout 2.30pm. The hotel has no lift but failed to mention the steep stairs from the car park to reception. It describes the car park as disabled accessible. I am not sure what this means? Certainly the spaces are so narrow as to make it very difficult to access the car. When the hotel opened, I stood at reception for 15 minutes before an employee appeared. There was no apology just the statement that he had been helping another guest with her wi-fi. I was informed that the restaurant was closed and only breakfast was available. The room was very good but has no air conditioning. It should be noted that the hotel is situated on a very busy junction with traffic movements, especially motorcycles, operating until the early hours. During our stay there was also a music concert on the banks of the river. This was very audible in our room. We did not stay for the, expensive, breakfast. Yes it is a spectacular building but is not welcoming and not for those expecting 3 star service or peace and quiet.

The hotel was easy to find, being just at the end of the main bridge on the bank of the Loire. We also got parked up in the courtyard of what is an 11th - 12th century old abbey and is a very grand looking building. The interior of the building has lots of high ceilinged rooms with antique furniture and objects d’art all over the place. I’d booked a superior room and the beamed ceiling must be about 15 feet high. The room is very smart and has a desk by the window that looks out onto the bridge and the river. After a splendid sleep we had breakfast in an attractive dining room that also offers seats outside or in an enclosed terrace with views of the river. Breakfast here is 17 Euros and they offer a fine range of fruits, local cold meats, cheeses and preserves. They even offer an array of loose tea blends from which to make your own tea bag. In my view it’s all a bit of style over practicality however, and although we saw the occasional member of staff loiter now and again, there was no “service” per se. We weren’t greeted on arrival or shown where everything was in the buffet. The serve yourself breakfast buffet may have some advantages, but in a quality hotel I don’t want to have to do everything myself. Breakfast should be a relaxing occasion, and not one where you have to queue up to use a fresh orange squeezing machine. I don’t want to have to search for a teaspoon (in vain!) or wonder if there might be a tea pot (no there wasn’t). And whereas it is nice to be able to have a boiled egg, I’d rather have someone else cook it for me and, to be blunt, for 17 Euros I’d expect a waiter to ask me if I would like to have some scrambled eggs or an omelette instead. We had breakfast on both mornings and second time round it continued to disappoint rather than please. This time there was no yogurt to go with the fresh fruit salad and no spoons to eat the fruit salad with; there was also no butter and because there was nobody visible in either the dining room or kitchen I had to ask the bloke on reception to go and get me some. This is a very good hotel and it is clear that they want it to be of a high standard, and whereas we enjoyed staying here I have to say that the service at breakfast was poor - simply because there was no service at all. The bottom line is that apart from the lack of service in the breakfast room (and I accept that there may be staffing issues) we found this to be a really good hotel and would stay again.

If you fancy staying at a 900 year-old abbey which retains most of its historical features, this is the place to go. Staff are helpful and friendly, and there is a well-stocked bar. The town it is in, Beaugency, is really rather special, and is close to all the castles of the Blois/Orleans region.