Pros and cons here. Beautiful, clean, well-located manor home and restaurant off a main street in charming Chartres. Walkable to all.
Loved our apartment - the Florentine - one of 8, spacious, newly re-done, beautifully appointed, washer, full kitchen. But - ours had no real shower - a handheld in a clawfoot tub.
Strange setup in that there’s no front desk - you check in at restaurant’s reception area. No one on site after restaurant closes. No way to communicate re towels, issues, etc.
English is not spoken very well. Staff is unfriendly and cool, except one of the managers who could answer our questions about the town (I speak French, thankfully). Splurged on a lunch at the restaurant; food was fine and waitress was friendly but we ended up spending twice as much as we’d thought bc we didn’t understand that the prix fixe lunch menu consisted of just the daily special - no choices. Not adequately explained. No other food options on site but there’s an outdoor patio bar (too cold in October that week). But coffee and boulangeries, restaurants abound within a few blocks.
The big drawback here is no elevator and two sets of stairs, inside and out, to get to a first floor apartment. So if you have any luggage, this may be an issue. Also no on-site parking - but in advance we found the underground public parking a couple blocks away and dragged our stuff. So, if you’re adventurous and savvy and physically able, this is a great place to stay, spread out, relax, and use the washer!
