Les Sources de Cheverny

This is the Loire sibling of the Bordeaux vinotherapy hotel, opened on an eighteenth-century estate a short walk from the Château de Cheverny. Accommodation is spread across three clusters of restored farm buildings in the grounds, so the place reads more as a hamlet than a hotel, with paths running between ponds, woodland and the estate's own Romorantin vines.

Food matters here. The gastronomic restaurant holds a Michelin star, and a second, plainer auberge handles long lunches and family dinners. The kitchen garden supplies both, and there is a serious cellar drawing on Cheverny, Cour-Cheverny and the wider Loire appellations.

The Caudalie spa applies the group's grape-based treatments in a low, glass-walled building set among the trees. Beyond the gates, Chambord and Chenonceau are both easy drives, and the flat country around Sologne is good cycling. The estate runs year-round, which is unusual for a Loire property of this kind.