10 Saint Valentine’s Hideaways out Normandy Way

6 February 2006 by Robert Korengold    637  
Well, of course there’s Paris and the sky-high Eiffel tower restaurant and the river Seine dinner cruises on the bateaux-mouches, but if you’re in France and want to find nice, off-beat romantic spots in which to spend St. Valentine’s day with your beloved, you can also go west of the French capital—and not too far.       There you can work in some historical glamour as well.       How about the hilltop chateau overlooking the Seine in Rolleboise, an easy hour’s drive from Paris, that Belgium’s king Leopold II built for his mistress, Blanche de Vaughan, in the late 19th century?  Recently restored and run now by Best Western hotels, its 35 guest rooms are located in three different houses spread around the chateau’s six acres of garden.  The chateau’s main building boasts a first class restaurant and intimate bar as well and this year a featured St. Valentine’s menu.       Or, if mistresses put you in the mood, what about the Chateau d’Anet, 45 minutes west of the capital,  that belonged to Diane de Poitiers, mistress of France’s King Henry II in the 16th century?        Diane was the virtual power behind Henri’s throne, and in his bed even while he was married to Italy’s famed Catharine de Medici. Catharine had to put up with the situation while Henri was alive but she wasn’t happy about it. And when Catherine de Medici wasn’t happy, it was better to watch out.       Nevertheless, after Henri’s death in 1559, she grudgingly agreed that if her long-time rival cleared town, she wouldn’t put her to death.  Diane then retired to Anet, where she is buried.       The chateau was pillaged during the French revolution but lovingly restored since and, as you might expect, has its tale of buried treasure on the grounds.  The treasure purportedly was accessible and free for the taking if you could find it, but that was only on Christmas Eve and only until the last hymn of the midnight mass ended. Then the doors slammed shut for another year. Woe to those, as the legend goes, who stayed around inside just to grab one more little handful of treasure.       In February the chateau is open to the public only on weekends from 2 to 4 p.m. Not on the big day itself, but no matter. It’s the atmosphere that counts and there’s a cosy restaurant and bar, “Le Manoir du Chateau,” that’s just across the street with a perfect view of Diane’s abode. Just the place for a St. Valentine’s Day lunch.       If it’s marriage on your mind and not just mistresses on Valentine’s Day, you might want to head just a bit farther west, but still only an hour from Paris, to the early 17th century Chateau de Brécourt.         Typically grand, classified as a national monument and reeking of Three Musketeers-époque history, it was chosen by former French tennis star and current professional singer Yannick Noah for his big wedding bash around Valentine’s day 11 years ago. With good reason.  Surrounded by woods and gardens, it has a warm, beamed-ceiling restaurant and 30 guest rooms and suites ideal for lovers. Noah was chosen just recently in a French poll as the most popular man in France. So his choice should be a good bet.       There’s also a romantic bit of history attached to the domain because shortly after the French revolution, in 1793, it was the site of what became known as “The Battle Without Tears” between forces loyal to the old royal regime and those of the new post-revolutionary government.  Why no tears?  Because the loyalist forces chasing their foes stopped on an extremely hot day to raid the chateau’s wine cellars. When the revolutionaries turned around and came back to do battle, they found their adversaries essentially all flat out drunk and took them prisoner without a fight.  A lot of wine had flowed but not a drop of blood was spilled.         In roughly the same area just north of the Seine, if you’re looking for dining-time atmosphere around Valentine’s day, you can’t get much more scenic than the Moulin de Fourges, a 19th century mill house now turned into a gourmet restaurant. Its attraction, while dining, is the view from its windows on the building’s giant rotating millwheel churning up the waters of the river Epte just before it flows into the Seine. The Moulin has an arrangement with a number of nearby Seine-side scenic hotels and can arrange your sleeping accommodations as well.       If you’re willing to go for a two-hour drive, rather than a single hour’s journey west of Paris, the places to head for are the waterfront cities of Honfleur and Deauville.       Just outside the Seine estuary port city of Honfleur is the renowned Ferme St. Siméon hotel and restaurant, a famous hangout for Claude Monet and myriad other noted French impressionist painters in the mid-19th century.  In addition to its restaurant’s four-Michelin-starred cuisine, it features an array of 34 comfortable rooms and suites, an indoor swimming pool,  a fitness center, a Jacuzzi and, if you’re in the league that needs one, a landing port for private helicopters.  The Ferme decides, not you, but you might even wind up in room number 22 which habitually was accorded to Monet himself.        As you might expect, it’s a favourite weekend getaway spot for Parisians and a ritual lodging or dining place for many of the movie stars (Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Liz Taylor, for example) who show or showed up periodically for the annual American festival in Deauville, a 20-minute drive away.       But be careful. Even though its prices are steep, The Ferme St; Simeon quickly gets booked up.  If that’s the case, rapidly set your sights on the nearby Manoir du Butin, just a few minutes away and under the same family management as the Ferme.    …
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By Robert Korengold