Château de Courban

Château de Courban is a manor house in local stone built in 1820 on the ruins of an older castle destroyed during the Revolution, in the small village of Courban in the north of the Côte-d'Or. The estate includes a 16th-century dovecote, an old barn, Italian-style gardens, meadows and woodland, on the border between Burgundy and Champagne and close to the Parc national de forêts.

The Vandendriessche family has owned the house since 1998, turning it first into a guest house and then, in 2004, into a four-star hotel. Today it has 26 rooms, a gourmet restaurant with one Michelin star, a 300 m² Nuxe spa, two outdoor pools and a library with a fireplace. Châtillon-sur-Seine is a fifteen-minute drive away, Troyes about an hour and Dijon an hour and a quarter.

The house is run by the Vandendriessche family: Pierre and Christine, who bought it in 1998, and now also their sons Frédéric and Jérôme, with Mylène. Hospitality has the feel of a family home, with sitting rooms, a library with a fireplace and board games for guests.

Rooms are available from 4 pm and must be vacated by 11 am. Free private parking, electric vehicle charging points, bicycles for guests and babysitting on request. Pets are welcome for a supplement and must be kept on a lead throughout the property. The hotel is entirely non-smoking.

The 26 rooms are spread across the manor house, the garden and the dovecote, each decorated differently in an elegant country style: floral and toile de Jouy wallpapers, exposed beams, antique furniture and light fabrics. They range from the attic rooms on the third floor to the Classique and Prestige rooms overlooking the garden or the countryside and the Signature rooms with a private terrace or balcony. Two are out of the ordinary: the Pigeonnier, set in the 16th-century dovecote, and the Rotonde, a contemporary suite surrounded by greenery with its own terrace and garden.

Amenities: private bathroom, walk-in shower in some rooms, air conditioning, television, free Wi-Fi, safe. Two rooms are accessible to guests with reduced mobility; Classique, Prestige and Signature rooms sleep up to three, the Pigeonnier and the Rotonde two, with a king-size bed.

The gourmet restaurant, awarded one Michelin star, is set in the château's orangery and led by chef Vincent Ferreira, who trained at Maison Lameloise, L'Oustau de Baumanière and Sketch in London. The cooking follows the seasons and the local area: vegetables from the estate's kitchen garden, eggs from the house hens and cheeses matured by the Fromagerie du Coin, served as a tasting menu in several sequences. The wine list runs to more than a thousand references, with a strong focus on Champagne and Burgundy.

The restaurant is open for dinner from 7 to 9 pm and also for Sunday lunch; seating is limited, so it is best to book a table when confirming the stay. The buffet breakfast is served from 8 to 10.30 am; menus for special dietary needs are available on request.

The Nuxe spa, opened in 2011, sits in the château gardens and covers about 300 m²: three treatment rooms, one for couples, a sauna, a hammam, a hot tub, a tea room and a Nuxe boutique. The sauna, hammam and hot tub are booked for private use.

The menu includes tailored massages, foot reflexology, face and body treatments preceded by a skin diagnosis, and longer rituals such as the Escapade à Courban. The spa is open daily from 10 am to 7 pm and is reserved for guests aged 18 and over; treatments should be booked in advance. In season, guests can also use the heated outdoor pool and a lap pool.

Courban is a village in the Châtillonnais, the northern part of the Côte-d'Or, between the vineyards of Chablis and southern Champagne and on the edge of the Parc national de forêts. Châtillon-sur-Seine, whose Musée du Pays Châtillonnais holds the Vix Krater, is a fifteen-minute drive away; Essoyes, the Renoir family's village, is 25 minutes.

Nearby: the wine estates of Les Riceys and the Côte des Bar 40 minutes away, the Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Colombey-les-Deux-Églises 45 minutes away, Flavigny-sur-Ozerain and Chablis just over an hour. The A5 motorway (exit 23) is about 20 km away; Troyes is about an hour's drive, Dijon an hour and a quarter.