Château de Roquelune

We finished our brief trip to the Beziers area with a night at the Château de Roquelune and only wished we could have stayed longer. We were warmly welcomed and instantly felt as though we were house guests rather than hotel customers and enjoyed the relaxed and thoughtful ambiance. A lovely bedroom stuffed with antiques, comfortable bedding, fluffy towels and fresh flowers. We were tempted to cycle into Pezenas but got distracted by the large pool and beautiful gardens which were too lovely to leave. An aperitif on the terrace and a delicious 3 course dinner completed with local wine and cheese ended a perfect day. Breakfast was just as good and we desperately wanted our flight to be delayed so we could stay longer. Thank you to the whole Roquelune team for your hospitality and cordiality. This is a very special place and we can’t wait to return.

The first thing to do is to ignore the flowery prose written about this place on booking sites, TripAdvisor, and its own website. It creates the impression of a Babbington House lite, when nothing could be farther from the truth. What you have here is a simple bed breakfast located in a country house. Other than breakfast, there are no food services, bar, spa activities or, indeed, a usable pool ( you have to ask for the pool because it is always being cleaned by a machine during the day!). Oh, by the way, don’t expect any housekeeping, there isn’t any: “you want clean towels everyday!”, came the horrified comment from the house manager. It’s more like an AirBnb, but at 240 euros per night! And they tried to charge extra for breakfast, despite being presented with a confirmed booking with breakfast inclusive. Ah breakfast! No napkins “ because the couple on the next table took them”, no butter because “I put out one butter for each of you and someone took two” - it’s a classic! This place is surrounded by high walls with solid metal gates protected by electronic key pads, lights and cameras. It feels like a fortress! It is in the middle of nowhere: at least 3 km to the nearest village. It has about a hectare of grounds, with some lovely trees, but the general area needs some attention, like maybe cutting the grass? No comfortable seating outside. The room was fine: large but with peculiar washing and plumbing arrangements retrospectively added to an old house; hated the noisy sliding door to the bathroom and the shower installed in a cupboard, on which I banged my head every time! Air conditioning was excellent. For 2 nights out of our 3, we were the only ones staying. When the house manager left, we were on our own, in a strange house with no emergency exits marked, and no emergency information except her telephone number. If there had been a fire, I wouldn’t bet that we could have escaped. But (spooky) after we had gone to bed we heard footsteps, which we assumed was the owner checking the house, but who knows? We checked our room lock! It was interesting that when we asked if we could check in an hour early because a local music festival meant that Pézenas, the local town, was effectively closed to traffic, the owner said “non”! In an empty hotel!!! We didn’t even want the room until 1600, just parking. Not an ounce of human kindness. So, there you have it. A country house with 2 guests in a tourist area in France at the end of June and the booking sites show availability through the summer. It doesn’t know what it wants to be: corporate entertainment; special events; boutique hotel; or chambres d’hote. It cannot survive for long in this format. If I had been in their situation, I would have simply offered us a 100 euros each to cancel the booking and shut the place for week! It is an unhappy place: the Operations staff and the Owners are not in harmony, and you feel that with every interaction. It may be worth keeping an eye on this