Les Poissonchats

A star fell from the sky and ended up in our old castle tower, right in the top room, the one with the terrific view. 

When we moved to the castle about eighteen months ago we decided to dedicate the 11th century keep to hosting, with the medieval kitchen on the ground floor, where together with my guests we cook up a fabulous French storm during the culinary retreats, and three guest rooms one above the other, as each floor has one room. For some unfathomable reason I kept humming an old nursery rhyme while clearing out the first bulk of unneeded things in the tower, which goes lantern lantern sun moon and stars, burn my light but not my lantern etc etc. 

The evocative images the rhyme provokes in my imagination, in turn, reminded me of the tarot: the eternal wheel of life. The hermit with his guiding light, the tower itself. Sun, moon and stars. And I had no more to think out fancy names for the guest rooms – they had named themselves. In the order of the rhyme, the sun is on the first floor, the moon on the second and towering above everything, the star.

Sun and moon were in ok shape, perhaps a little bold in colour but ok and clean and neat would do for accommodating guests we found. We had beds made by the tapissier, the old French way, all hand made and natural materials, sheep wool and horse hair. It gives you the best of sleep. We furnished the two rooms with beautiful worn old furniture, each piece telling the story of a family and a life. The star though gave us a headache: the window only with benevolence could be called a window. Rain seeping in in one corner, hideous gypsum and glass wool wall coverings plus a couple of charming barn owls with a ludicrous sense of cleanliness nesting in a crevice to the bathroom*. 

We tackled the room come February, and this is the result: 

Do you like it? It’s available for booking until and included October 13 and then again next year from 1 May throughout the summer until October 12. More info is here. 

On that note, we have squeezed in another retreat on Saturday September 28! I have two or three spots left for this one (depending on whether or not you’re traveling solo), it’s going to be all autumnal, golden colour palette, apples, pumpkins and with a little luck fresh mushrooms. It’s possible also to extend your stay by either arriving a couple of days before or stay beyond Sunday, rooms are available until Thursday 3 October. Please write to hello@lespoissonchats.com, indicating your full name, arrival and departure dates and I’ll get in touch with you shortly!

*The barn owls are still there but a double insulated wall now separates them and their smelly bellies from the bathroom. You will see them circling in the night sky though, under the stars.