Pavillon de la Maye EssentialsWhen the luxurious Trianon Palace is full to bursting the management sends its clients

Pavillon de la Maye EssentialsWhen the luxurious Trianon Palace is full to bursting, the management sends its clients to the Pavillon de la Maye, a smart townhouse located in a quiet residential street in chic Versailles.StoryIn 1998, Daniel-Etienne Hourdry, former general director of Maxim’s, retired. By 2000, he and his wife had opened one of the smartest bed and breakfasts in France, with its sweeping staircase, classically furnished salon and conservatory, well-tended garden and pristine antiques. All five bedrooms are spacious, with wooden flooring and marble bathrooms.SuitsCity slickers.Eat and drinkBreakfast comprises tea and coffee served in a silver set, home-cooked Madeleine cakes and pear clafoutis with raspberry coulis, jams, croissant and brioche, cheese and fresh bread.On your doorstepCh?au and gardens of Versailles.NearbyMonet’s home and gardens at Giverney, Ch?au de Malmaison, former residence to Josephine and Napoleon Bonaparte.Cost For two: €168-€205 (£112-£137) including breakfast.Contact Pavillon de la Maye, 16 avenue de la Maye, 78000 Versailles (00 33 1 39 23 21 00; email: pavillondelamaye wanadoo.fr; ). Ch?au de Viaud EssentialsDiscreet ch?au set in the heart of wine-growing Lalande de Pomerol, between Saint-Emilion and Fronsac. The view of 50-acre vineyards makes wine-lovers drunk.StoryWhile Philippe Raoux makes the wine, former fabric and furnishings decorator Mary looks after the chambres d’h?, which opened in May 2002. Each of the five rooms is named after an aromatherapy oil and scented accordingly.

Regency and Victorian antiques, traditional French fabrics and contemporary art decorate the rooms and large sitting room.SuitsWine travellers.Eat and drinkFor breakfast: American pancakes or croissants, muesli, yoghurt and fruit for every season (plums in spring, peaches in summer and figs in autumn) plucked from the ch?au garden. All day there are on-site tastings of the ch?au wines (a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet-Sauvignon). Evening meals: for larger groups, on-site catering can be arranged. Otherwise, drive to nearby Saint-Emilion for the intimate ambience and fabulous food of the Clos du Roi and L’Envers du D?r bistrot-wine-bar, the ch?aux proprietors’ favourite.On your doorstepVisit the ch?au cellars and wine-tasting – €5 (£3) for two vintages.NearbyVisit ch?aux for wine-tastings, grottos and Troglodyte church of Saint-Emilion, and Frontmayne Ch?au Take a spin to Bordeaux (a 25-minute drive). Ask your host to organise wine-tasting bicycle tours, or cooking demonstrations using local delicacies: tomate confit, confit de canard and foie gras.CostFor two: €80-€110 (£53-£73) including breakfast.ContactChateau de Viaud, 33500 Lalande de Pomerol, (00 33 5 57 51 17 86). Domaine des Villedieu EssentialsRural retreat set in the tranquil C? valley of the Lot.StoryMartine and Michel Villedieu gave up their careers in accountancy to run this peaceful residence, a former farmhouse with outhouses (1511-1803) transformed into stylish chambres and table d’h?.

You will sleep in one of four bedrooms, two of which feature the original fourniol (bread ovens).Suits Nature-lovers.Eat and drink The Villedieu offer half-board; their talented young son is the house chef, and he plunders the rich garden for fresh vegetables, including some 20 rare varieties of tomato. Take an aperitif (walnut and Cahors wine with cassis) on the terrace. Dine on creamy goats’ cheeses Rocamadour and Cab?u, a bubbling bowl of cassoulet (pork, duck, white beans and lots of garlic), succulent prunes cooked in Cahors wines, and oozing hot-chocolate pudding. Breakfast is fresh, homemade country bread and jams.On your doorstepRamble around the land nearby or potter in the lovely garden; take a dip in the swimming pool on summer afternoons. Nearby Bastide of Capdenac-le-Haut, medieval Figeac, city of Cahors.CostFor one: €47-€68 (£31-£45) including half-board.ContactDomaine des Villedieu, 46100 Boussac (00 33 5 65 40 06 63; ). Le Jardin du Presbyt? EssentialsHarmony of light and space in the gentle Brittany countryside.StoryThis three-roomed chambres d’h? is an oeuvre-d’art by painter Marie-France Piel and her sculptor partner Jean-Pierre Mousquey.

The walls, painted in warm pinks and dusty blues, are the backdrop for Marie-France’s paintings of cockerels and Proven? fields. From the breakfast table, sculptures – a beady-eyed duck and bust of Archbishop Saint Magloire – watch over you.SuitsConversationalists and art lovers.Eat and drinkBreakfast is crunchy craquelins fried in milk and butter, homemade jams and fresh bread, green tea or strong coffee.On your doorstepWander around the grounds: its flowers and sculptures create a romantic feel.Nearby Abbey of L?n, ancient town of Dinan, Fort Lalatte and island of Br?t.Cost For two: €49 (£33) including breakfast.ContactLe Jardin du Presbyt?, Le Presbyt?, Les Hautes-Mares, 22630 Saint-Andre-des-Eaux (00 33 2 96 27 48 18). Ch?au du Mesnil Geoffroy EssentialsListed 17th- to 18th-century ch?au in Normandy, set in formal gardens.StoryYour truly noble hosts, Prince Kayali and Princess Anne-Marie Kayali, take pleasure in introducing their historic home with its stunning gardens. All of the five rooms (including two suites) are decorated with the family antiques and offer garden views.SuitsGourmets and time travellers.Eat and drink The princess prepares a breakfast of fresh eggs from the farm plus a choice of 10 homemade jams, including violet and rose-petal jam (the flowers are picked from the garden) and Louis XVI’s favourite: mango jam with caramelised lemon and rum-soaked raisins. Dine with the family to taste 18th-century recipes, such as marinated pork in nine spices.On your doorstepStroll in the gardens designed by a pupil of Len?, with lime-tree avenues and a rose garden with 2,000 varieties.Nearby Don’t pass up a chance to visit the gorgeous village of Veules-les-Roses and the seaside (both four miles away), Dieppe (12 miles), and the gardens of the Parc des Moutiers.Cost For two: €60-€110 (£40-£73) Breakfast €9.20. Dinner €42 (£28) per head including drinks.Contact Ch?au du Mesnil Geoffroy, 76740 Ermenouville, Seine-Maritime (00 33 2 35 57 12 77; email: contact chateau-mesnil-geoffroy ; ).