The perfect weekend getaway: Verneuil-la-douce, a charming château-turned-inn just outside Paris
A 19th-century château has been restored as an art-filled hotel in which to dream and unwind.
If you ask a hotelier what they want most for their guests, sweet dreams would probably be near the top of the list. Verneuil-la-douce – an art-filled, 17-room hotel an hour west of Paris by car – goes well beyond plush pillows and soft lighting in its efforts to fulfil that promise. From the glass-walled lounge with its Greek mythology-inspired frescoes to the garden-facing indoor pool and spa, every space here seems carefully contrived to create a dream-like atmosphere. “We wanted to inspire wonder and contemplation,” says Parisian entrepreneur Camille Omerin, the owner of the 19th-century Anglo-Norman château.
The project, which fully opens this spring after a two-and-a-half-year renovation, is Omerin’s first hospitality venture but she quickly found her footing. For the site-specific works, she selected seven artists who she knew personally or whose work she admired. Among them were Ben Arpéa, who is behind the outdoor pool’s colourful design.
But no one has left a bigger mark on the hotel than Ségolène Derudder, a graphic designer and illustrator based in Biarritz and Paris, who was commissioned to create the common areas’ frescoes. In the dining room, where her playful images can be seen on the ceiling, Omerin points out a blue-haired cherub playing the violin. “There are plenty of fun details like this in her work,” she says.
Plenty of care went into the furniture. Omerin designed many of the pieces, from the ornate, Napoleon III-style chairs in the dining room and the wooden headboards, coffee tables and desks in the bedrooms to the botanically inspired vases and wall lamps, which were made to measure by DM Création ceramics workshop. While most of the decorative elements feel contemporary, others feel as though they have been part of the château for decades, such as the black marble inlays in the parquet and the vine-leaf boiseries.
Eating is an important part of the experience too. At restaurant Patiné, chef Cyril Coutin serves eye-catching dishes that taste as good as they look and might just leave you dreaming of another night in which to enjoy it all again.
verneuilladoucehotel.com
Further reading:
Four weekend escapes within easy reach of Paris
