French Chateaux & Hotels (Alastair Sawday's Special Places to Stay) Paperback – 10 Mar. 2016

This is an excellent book with some marvellous gems at the higher end of the market, so go ahead and buy it because it is insightful and trustworthy. Sawday's always visit the properties, and their writers are skilled at summing up the ambiance and friendliness etc.of a place. I have no pro-Sawday axe to grind and no connection with their organisation, but whenever I have used their books they have been spot-on.My only grouse with Sawday's, concerns the distinction between this book, the number of same properties also listed in their other book "French Bed & Breakfast", and also the fact that despite there being many different properties exclusive to each book there is a wide area of price crossover too - not all the properties in the B&B book are lower in price, and there are some lower end prices in the more "exclusive" book too.The rest of this review is what I have already posted about that B&B book, and if you read this through you'll appreciate my dilemma at the existence of the 2 separate volumes with different titles.............................................................................................................................................................................................................EXTRACT FROM MY REVIEW OF SAWDAY'S "FRENCH BED & BREAKFAST BOOK...NOW, here is a bit of a puzzle:- you may well say to me vis-a-vis the difference between the two books is that it should be obvious - one is bed and breakfast, the other is the hotel/chateaux experience. Well true, but these days most B&B's don't kick you out onto the street after breakfast, most are happy if you hang around all day in their garden by the pool and then use your room for an afternoon nap etc. - and further, a great number of B&B's also offer an optional evening meal. Conversely, you can purchase breakfast at most of the places in the other book, although in a few it is also included. And, not all places in the chateaux etc. book by any means offer meals either. So the distinction between the properties in each book is blurred in my opinion, in fact, the number of places appearing in both books tends to make me feel it is time for one comprehensive volume, or two different books split only on price, or on geography. I did find it irritating juggling between the two books to investigate the same geographical area. Oddly, some places which appear in both books are cheaper in the B&B 2013 edition than in the 2012 Chateaux book! Maybe the recession is biting. Steve Riches, Northampton, UK.

looking forward to bookiung for summer

A must have book. recommended

Purchased with certain doubts as the previous Sawday guide led us to two French bed and breakfast places that were so different from the outside to that described by Mr Sawday that we just drove away. Mr Sawdays descriptions of the owners is so fawning as to be hard to believe.Try Booking.com but don't book through them - call the owners and ask for the 20% they give to Booking.com

My husband had to plan a driving trip to France and trawling the internet for hotels was taking ages and sometimes the information was scant. This book was a huge help and he has booked a couple of chateaux. They are not all huge or very expensive. It's a great book for planning your French ramblings.

what a fab book there were also places in the book we have already checked out so this is really good news

Excellent👍👍👍

On or off the beaten track, this is the only guidebook to rely upon for booking and planning an independent hoiday.