Le Château de Beaulieu

Excellent friendly hotel reasonably close to the Eurotunnel. Great spot for launching a long drive. Delicious food and very safe car parking. Recommended in all aspects , the staff, rooms, closeness to the autoroute but quiet too. Excellent value for money.

I give only three stars because we were expecting more from a Relais et Chateau establishment at €400/night. We've stayed in places at half the price that were equally well-equipped and comfortable. We stayed in the new, modern part (rooms 23-29), and the room was spacious with huge windows, and a small terrace with a table and two very uncomfortable chairs overlooking the river. But: at that price, one would expect more than one comfortable chair in the room. There's plenty of room for one! Maybe we should have asked. Also, and very important: the toilet, although separate from the bathroom, was too high!! I often resorted to a walk down the hall to the toilets for the restaurant patrons, just so that my feet could touch the floor. Why so high?!? And this is something not easily fixed. Bathroom was nice, with double sink and excellent shower. But not having brought any body lotion, thinking "it's Relais et Chateau", I was disappointed in the toiletries. Breakfast: A bit of a rip-off at €35 per person per day. I get that the ingredients are all locally sourced and of high quality, but come on. Having said all that, the staff were very friendly and helpful, and we enjoyed visiting La Fermette to meet the donkeys, goats, geese, chickens, sheep, ducklings. Mama duck had 11 babies on the day we arrived, but only 2 left by the time we departed!

This is the third Relais & Chateaux we stayed in over the last two weeks. I am somewhat surprised with the accreditation as this is more of a restaurant with rooms. Its strengths are a good location near to Calais for the return and pleasant grounds. These are not really offset by its shortcomings. One gets the impression that the hotel is understaffed. There was no one serving in the bar before dinner and that was remedied by going to reception. The food was good and the pricing very reasonable. The service let the restaurant down. I cannot recall where the food is served and collected across the table rather than served from the left and collected from the right. The ambience in the restaurant was affected by the tables being crammed together; a small intermediate table of about 30cm separating one from the next. I was also surprised by the lack of toiletries in the bathroom. The shower had shower gel and shampoo affixed to the wall. The bath itself had nothing!