Olhabidea

Two friendly brothers, Guillaume and Jean Fagoaga (there is a third, Emmanuel, who runs a nearby equestrian centre), cousins of the owners of Hotel Arraya, have taken over their parents’ farmhouse, adding a restaurant to its five charmingly cluttered and comfortable chambres d’hôte . Chambre Fleur is cosy, ‘à l’anglais’; Chambre Fruit looks onto the mountains; Chambre Pivoine is in the mansard, and looks onto the garden bordered by the river. They are all pretty, homely and countrified, and if you are fooled into thinking, either in the bedrooms or in the delightfully cluttered ground floor rooms that make up the restaurant, that you are in an old Cotswold inn, then you are not far off the mark, for their parents visit that part of the world every year and its quaint style is a definite influence. Even the coffee cups are English bone china. Guillaume is the chef, and his daily menu surprise comprises what he brings back from the market and picks from his own potager. A tranquil garden borders the river. Delightful.