REGION : Guainville – Centre Val de Loire
ATMOSPHERE : Countryside
STYLE : Bucolic
CATEGORY : 5*
ROOMS: 30 rooms and 9 suites
Members benefits
A bottle of wine from Domaine de Fontenille
A rose garden with 250 varieties, a classical garden touching wild nature, a pond and pontoons, moats, a vegetable garden, ducks and animals in freedom… How about spendingthe weekend inside a Monet painting? Head to the banks of the Eure River, a few steps away from the impressionists of Giverny and the borders of Normandy, more precisely in Guainville. There, just an hour from Paris, coiled in a lush 40 hectare park, discover a superb eighteenth-century residence: Primard. A jewel among jewels, for thirty years, the house belonged to French leading lady Catherine Deneuve, who we can easily imagine strolling in the alleys topped with a straw hat, bouquet of freshly cut flowers in hand.
CAN YOU ALREADY PICTURE IT? How right you are! Renovated with care, the building and its outbuildings are now part of the very chic hotel collection of the Domaines de Fontenille (Domaine de Fontenille, Les Bords de Mer, Les Hortensias, 70 hectares et l’Océan…) who have composed here a 5* complex that is sprinkled with romance and decorated with floral wallpapers, engravings, medallions, and neoclassical paintings. Scattered throughout the castle (Maison de l’Eure), the Lake House, the Barn and the Orchard House, the 39 rooms combine contemporary art and design pieces with a strong personality and a selection of objects and accessories from the greatest French houses (Pierre Frey, faïenceries de Charolles, Gien, JL Coquet…). The ensemble is charming without overdoing it, dressed in a beautiful palette of soft colors (water green, sky blue, soft pink, off-white) borrowed from the flowers in the garden.
DELIGHTFULLY DOUSED IN COUNTRY STYLE, the latter was designed by Jacques Wirtz, to whom we owe the gardens of the Carrousel du Louvre. Boxwoods, bowers, canals, topiaries and hundred-year-old trees offer the spectacle of unbridled nature which invites calm and contemplation. You don’t have to go far to get back to society’s fineries: Primard has three restaurants, two bars, a winter garden, a pool and a Susanne Kaufmann spa.
RESTAURANTS – Primard has three restaurants: Octave run by chef Romain Meder, the Table d’Hôtes located in the house on the Eure and the gourmet restaurant Les Chemins, 1 star in the Michelin guide.
SWIMMING POOL – Admit it, it’s pretty fun to think you’re splashing around in the wake of the great Catherine Deneuve, isn’t it?
GARDEN – Stroll among the sculpted boxwoods and countless varieties of roses in this paradise created by the famous landscape designer Jacques Wirtz.
SPA – Stretched out along the orchard, the 450 m2 wellness area extends over two levels with a sauna, a hammam, two Japanese baths and Suzanne Kaufmann treatment rooms.
PARK – Meditate, converse, or read peacefully on the various wooden decks set up on the banks of the river or the pond.
BARS – Tea in the greenhouse, cocktails in the salons of the Maison de l’Eure, wine tasting in the cellar or a glass of Veuve Clicquot champagne to be enjoyed outside in the setting sun? No one said you had to choose…
● Cycling, walking, canoeing or boating
● Fishing
● Visit of the castle of Anet that King Henry II of France had built in the XVIᵉ century for his favorite, Diane de Poitiers; discovery of Claude Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny, Thoiry park, Villarceaux estate, villages of Vernon, Les Andelys…
● Robert Hersant golf course in la Chaussée d’Ivry
