Château de Courtebotte

Beautiful setting, gorgeous adult pool with a terrace. We stayed in a 2 bed annex, not the chateau, chateau might not as well have been there as, although there’s a lovely lounge, described in great detail on their leaflet, there’s no bar. We were told the only bar is by the restaurant, which is obviously intended for a pre-dinner drink, as there’s no waiter service & drinks menu is fairly limited, there’s no atmosphere, either. No food available in hotel except fine dining lunch/dinner, not great, esp for kids/teens. We did have dinner, which was excellent, food & service. I think Monrecour needs to decide whether it’s a hotel, or a restaurant. Breakfast buffet was, just about, on par, with the Ibis in Sarlat, (sausages & scrambled eggs cold, no hot plate) but not a patch on Novotel, Mérignac Bordeaux, which was excellent. Many posher hotels offer casual dining. They could set up a posh snack hut, eg. see Chateau des Milandes stylish snack hut. Hotel seemed short staffed, a lovely receptionist showed us to our rooms, we buzzed to order some drinks on terrace, (doors to bar/lounge inside were locked!) same receptionist arrived, my son said it was a shame & felt like not ordering more drinks! Then our safe wasn’t working, same receptionist arrived.

We stayed in 2 nice rooms with good amenities although the coffee machine in the room didn’t work. The beds are comfy and the whole place is decorated high end. A bit annoying there was no way to find the luggage-only lift in the chateau when you leave but not a dealbreaker. Staff at reception (Magali) definitely up to help at any moment, including touching base with our travel agent. The thing that annoyed us was the restaurant which we had the half board option and the waiting staff didn’t seem to know what we were entitled to as part of our package. The first night, we chose what they said, the second night a more senior waiter told us the options were wider and we were annoyed we missed out on the first night’s option; the portions are predictably “haute cuisine” so therefore rather tiny. That’s ok because breakfast was excellent. There is a kids only pool so that was nice for us. It annoyed me immensely that no food or drink is allowed by the pool but you can order some from the hotel!! It’s 33 degrees, I think I should be allowed my own water!! We didn’t have a car with us and I think, to be honest, you need one! The roads nearby are Departmental so pretty busy for cycling and behind, extremely hilly!

Exquisitely restored chateau, excellent attention to detail in Chateau itself Lovely location Family group of 9 - 4 adult couples +1 adult Really enjoyed our stay here, especially enjoyed the pool Bedrooms all gorgeous, only mistake we made was booking the Pavilion which wasn’t really suitable for 3 adults, and the Capri apartment - while gorgeous - not suitable for adult couples as the second bedroom accessed through the first Those were our only issues, and perhaps my own fault in booking Our host Babette was exceptional, extremely accommodating, and unobtrusive. Her continental breakfast was excellent and she went to the trouble of making gluten free bread & crackers - there were welcome drinks & nibbles also. Highly recommend.

4 days before arrival we asked the restaurant if they could do vegetarian. They said they would work something out. When we arrived, only the entre was vegetarian but was very small (nouvelle cuisine) with 4 asparagus arranged artistically on a plate withe dressing. Main choices were only Pork and fish, and they were also miniscule. They were obviously used to guests complaining because they provided plenty of bread! The food was very tasty for the others but with no vegetarian options we ate a lot of bread, expensive at 32 euros. Seriously, there are many vegetarians these days, French chefs need to keep up! Its not hard, they could make a mushroom pasta or risotto. Disappointing, especially when we had warned them about our preferences!

Wonderful stay!! The Manager was so welcoming with a glass of wine discussing where we might like to go and visit/eat. Our room was perfect, comfy bed, huge bathroom and a balcony with a beautiful view over the Dordogne river. A lovely old building so well cared for, beautiful garden and pool.

Booked the hotel the day before to stay one night on our way South. A nice surprise, hidden gem! Enough parking. Very clean rooms, good isolated (we stayed in the building next to the chateau) . Well maintained garden, pool and buildings. Friendly staff and excellent food for diner and breakfast. Price/quality very good. A place to return.