Château de Lalande

If you happen to be travelling in the Dordogne in France’s southwest, this hotel and restaurant are unmissable. I don’t use that word lightly. It’s part of our universal travel routine to tell each other, you MUST eat here or visit there if you are travelling to a place I’ve been. I’ve gotten some great recommendations that way; other times, it would be impossible and improbable to build one’s itinerary around other’s experiences. But really, this place is fantastic.
I have stayed in many places that aim to imitate a chateaux, inside or outside, and the truth is, before arrival, we wondered if we would be checking in to Fawlty Towers (also because it wasn’t expensive at all). But no, this is the real deal. The building is absolutely stunning. The rooms, renovated only a handful of years ago, before Yves and Catherine opened their doors to the public, are perfect, retaining old-​world charm but matched with contemporary comfort. The tall ceilings, magnificent room and buildings made me feel like we were in an episode of Downton Abbey. After staying in a series of AirBNB rentals, this bed was the comfort we needed on the trip! Also, there’s a rain showerhead. Air conditioning. A lovely view from the room.
It doesn’t stop there. The gastronomic restaurants has some sort of recognition or certification of fine dining. With beautiful weather, we all sat outside under a well-​designed pergola and while we have eaten some amazing meals this trip in France, we think this dinner was the best so far. Traditional but not boring, each element on the plate thought-​out and delicious, and a celebration of local ingredients (which the French seem to have been doing for centuries, but is called a «trend» elsewhere). My appetiser was dried duck stuffed with foie gras, a handful of thin slices of it, with a few slices of dried duck breast without the foie gras, and a nice berry gel. My main was sturgeon, cooked perfectly with an intense buttery herb sauce, and tiny new potatoes that burst upon being bit into. My partner thought his duck confit was the best he’d ever tasted. I loved my selection of local cheeses and his dessert, an apricot and rhubarb stew with a pannacotta was delicious. All accompanied by an interesting glass of white wine as an apéritif (sweet for him, dry for me) and a bottle of local white wine with the dinner (I’ll never remember the names of so many French wines, but this was a sauvignon blanc with enough texture and body to match both the fish and the duck). All of this was at incredibly reasonable prices.
Breakfast, which was included, was a full spread of high-​quality delicious offerings: fresh pastries and bread, the most delicious ham, individual homemade apple crumbles (which you’d pay for on their own, as a dessert in a restaurant) — hot from the oven.
In fact, the price of our room, the cheapest in the chateaux, was inexpensive (which was why we didn’t have our hopes up). This hotel perhaps represents some of the best value I’ve ever gotten while travelling, and topped up with warm and wonderful hosting by our hosts Catherine and Yves (who it seems worked in the hospitality world in different parts of France before coming to the Dordogne) topped off a magnificent experience. If I’ve used many superlatives in this review, it was because it was… superlative.