Château des Arpentis

We had a spacious room. A large heated pool, one side of which is also significantly deeper than usual. The pool has a nice view of the castle and nature. There was a self-service refrigerator with soft drinks by the pool (for a fee). The house had a spacious lounge with a piano and billiards. In the corridor there is a large display with hunting trophies. The house and interior could use some updating in several places, but overall the condition is still OK. Amboise city centre with its many attractions is a 10-minute drive away. There are several castles in the immediate vicinity that are worth visiting. Since all the customer service in the hotel was done by one person, he was busy with his activities and he didn't want to help with booking table in a restaurant, but we got a prepared leaflet from him with information on recommended restaurants in the area. However, the information was in French and it turned out that most of the restaurants were closed that day and in several places the understanding of English over the phone was poor. With the help of the administrator, at least those places that were closed on that day could have been excluded from this list, or the information would have been printed in English. There is no refrigerator or minibar in the room. Sometimes you could hear what was going on in the next room too well, especially everything that was happening in the bathroom (even just splashing water). The sun loungers are already starting to fall apart and the board around the pool is quite old - it springs and rattles under the foot of a heavier person. Two different navigation programs do not know the location of this place, only Google Map found it, so do the preliminary work with the exact location of the hotel in advance, so as not to worry unnecessarily on the road (where there may be no internet). When you turn off the main road, there is a sign with a sign for the hotel, but for some reason you don't notice it well. The mobile internet was very weak there, the hotel's own Wi-Fi was OK in the house, but there was no coverage by the pool. There is no catering apart from breakfast. Breakfast is baguette, croissant, fruit, unflavoured yogurt and jam. The coffee is served in a press pot, which is of course much better than instant coffee, but it is still short of proper machine coffee, and for those who are used to drinking cappuccino in the morning, its absence is disappointing. Apparently, according to the French standard, the choice of breakfast is OK, but in the north we are brought up with the knowledge that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and we don't eat sweets for breakfast. The pool opens (the cover on the pool is opened) in the morning at 11:40 (although, for example, the opening time is marked 08:00 on the Booking page) and check-out is no later than 11:30, that is, if you planned to use the pool in the morning before the cultural program or before check-out, it will not be possible. It was a

A large apartment, the Salle de Garde was outstanding. This was luxury with multiple windows opening onto a rustic outlook with river, horses and green pasture outside. We were separate from the Chateau with our own elevator for access. We explored the extensive grounds and the beautiful Chateau including its common room/billiard and games room. The laundry was bonus.

This chateau was a true mixed bag of good and bad. The chateau and the grounds were so peaceful, beautiful and wonderful just like the photos on their website. It had all the makings of a fabulous stay in a castle, but sadly it didn't hit the mark in customer service. When we checked in I asked if they served dinner in their beautiful dining room and what time? “Non” was their response. I was told this was a B & B and they only served breakfast. I went back to their website and it does not state that anywhere. We hadn’t rented a car and asked for a taxi to go into town, and he looked at me again and said, “Non.” It was a holiday and no taxis would be available. I asked how long it takes to walk to town, and he said one hour each way. I asked what were we supposed to do, and he shrugged and walked away muttering we needed a car. We walked to McDonald’s. We watched other couples enjoying a picnic of wine and cheese outside, so that is what we did for the next 3 days. We had our driver the next day stop at a grocery store, and we loaded up on wine, cheese, and crackers and had a picnic each night. They also need to replace the beds, and the linens were not good at all considering we were staying in a castle. Also, when we asked if we could use the pool, we were told…you guessed it…”Non,” it was too early in May and the pool was not open yet even though their website says it is heated, and the weather was beautiful. And lastly, their website says they have a laundry room, but when we asked if we could use it, they said, “Non,” it was too late (even though the laundry room stayed open until 10 pm ). So we had to do our laundry the next morning before we checked out at 11, and it took so long in those outdated machines, we had to put all our wet laundry in a garbage bag and haul it to Paris to dry it in our hotel room wasting an entire day drying our clothes with a hair dryer! I think this chateau would be great for one night if you check in at 3 and leave by 11:30 am, but as far as customer service, don’t expect anything other than a bed and a breakfast…period! I think with just a few changes, maybe stating on their website that they only serve breakfast and stating that a car is mandatory, selling picnic baskets with wine and cheese and replacing the beds and linens, this could be an amazing experience.

We had the a gorgeous room in this twelve bedroomed castle and use of a stunning outdoor swimming pool (when the weather was okay). The building is amazing and with all kinds of artifacts and lots of taxidermy including stuffed wild boars and other animals scattered around the corridors. The central lounge area had a billiards table, record player, piano, luxurious comfortable sofas and a feel of old country house luxury. It was like being Lord and Lady of the Manor during our stay. All of the bedrooms are different and tastefully furnished. Our room, Pénélope & Cléophée, was magnificent and had a view out of the back of the building onto parkland. It was a really spacious room with a very high ceiling. My only disappointment was that I only got two hurried chances to use the pool, one on the evening we arrived before it closed and another on the morning we left as it was closed the two full days we were there as the weather wasn't considered good enough. This was in June so was a shame as I'd hoped to swim daily as it said it was heated and open 15th May to 15th September. Laurent, the live in caretaker was pleasant and helpful in suggesting places to eat as there are no dining for dinner at the castle but there is a breakfast service. There is also a kitchen area by the pool and also another inside the castle where you can make use of a kitchen complete with two fridges which were very useful.