Château de la Pommeraye

One of my favorite stops ever, will definitely try to make it back someday. Huge rooms, large comfortable beds, excellent bathrooms, delicious breakfasts. The wonderful, friendly owners spent 8 years re-​habing the building. All the original napoleonic character has been preserved and beautifully decorated throughout, while never getting cluttered. Very clean.
2 warnings: this is not a table d’hôte, their website host has closed and they cannot change this detail yet. They can provide some dinners with plenty of notice. If you see the size and location of the place run by 2 people, you’ll see why they discontinued this. They are very helpful for booking reservations at excellent local eateries.
There is a cow pasture across the road, you will see flies in your room, although the French flies are surprisingly considerate and do not bite or fly around at night and generally keep to themselves.

My husband and I just got back from Normandy, and we stayed one night in a truly magnificent château called Château de la Pommeraye. Everything about our stay there was special, and you can’t help but relax. There seem to be 8 rooms and they are very spacious and very tastefully decorated. It would be a great place to stay for a wedding party or family reunion-​type gathering or just to hang out with a bunch of friends. But it is also nice for just 2 people who are looking for someplace peaceful and away from the larger cities.
We we first arrived, the gardener was there cutting the lawn, but Alexandre (the owner) asked him to stop doing the yard work so that we wouldn’t have to hear the noise from the garden equipment. I thought that was very considerate. The grounds of the château have plenty of areas to sit and read a book or have a glass of something and enjoy the quiet of the surrounding countryside.
There is a very lovely sitting room adjacent to the dining room with a fire place. It was raining a little when we arrived, and we sat in front of the fire, drank sparkling wine, and listened to classical music. It was delightful.
You definitely want to plan to have dinner at the château. We were served a 5-​course meal for a very reasonable price (wine was extra, and they have a very nice wine list), and it was so nice to just come in to dinner from the sitting room, and not have to worry about driving somewhere to a restaurant (which might be difficult, because there didn’t seem to be much else around there anyhow). The main course that evening was duck, which was phenomenal. All of the courses used fresh, organic ingredients, and the meal truly was one of the best I’ve ever had. The attention to detail in both the preparation and the presentation was better than anything you will see on Top Chef! Our lovely hostess Karine gets the credit for most of that!
In the morning we were served a simple, yet delicious breakfast. Freshly baked bread (by the owner himself!), delicious French butter, local jams and honey, and fresh apple juice (which — when you’re in Normandy — you must try!).
Our only regret is that we didn’t have more time here. We were on a tight schedule, but had I known then, what I know now, I would have booked more than one night, and really taken advantage of the tranquility of the château and its surroundings. This place is a gem.