Château du Fraisse — Hotel in Bellac

This is a castle in grand style with a history going back to the 1300s. It was burned down by the English in the 1500s for which I apologised to our gracious hosts m and mme des Monstiers.||||Without doubt this is one of the best stops we have ever made on our way down to the South of France. Mme De Monstiers, who speaks excellent English (but was only too happy to allow us to massacre her beautiful language) could not have been more welcoming. After being shown our room - which had a bathroom with a mural and contained some elegant furniture and had a pleasant view over the park - we were shown into the enormous salon and given tea. Mme Des Monstiers understands the needs the English have for tea. ||||We spent a comfortable night then were served a good French breakfast with homemade jams in a delightful spacious room in a corner of the chateau agian overlooking the park.||As we were leaving I asked m des Monstiers why his family had not been killed during the Revolution. His reply was both lengthy and fascinating and I will not spoil a good story by telling it here but suffice it to say that you could...

We visited on the Sunday afteroon during the annual Patromony weekend (held annually in France, September). It was a great 2-3 hours. We did not stay the night, so cannot comment on the overnight accommodation, we were on the special guided tour of the property. All the family seemed to be in attendance, as it really is still a family-run estate, which is nice. They had all made a great effort to dress in period costumes of their ancestors - fabulous! It was very cheap to go on the guided tour (French only, but we were the only non-French there, so it was to be expected). Which other chateau can you visit for as little as 2 Euros per adult??? They may not be 'open' much, but if you find out that they are, your onto a winner for sure. A true representation of rural French life without all the touristy gimmicks - no gift shop etc here, just a wonderful pet dog...

We stayed one night on way to Spain. Warm welcome from the owners son. Shown our Yellow room, going through the main impressive front door and up the beautiful staircase and through some rooms that are open to the public with tours. When I asked for our room key, the gentleman said "no need for key". Not too happy with that and we put a chair against the door when we went to bed! I had asked whether a restaurant booking for a local restaurant could be made when I booked the chateau, and this had been done for us. The double bed was not the most comfortable and quite a small double. The mattress was such that we kept meeting in the middle. Pillows were comfortable. Bathroom more than adequate. Breakfast was taken in the family dining room which was gorgeous. Croissant, bread with jams and tea or coffee offered.|A good experience and the chateau...