Less than two hours from Paris, Loire Valley Lodges is a dreamy forest cabin escape, with sublime storytelling, whimsical touches and a back-to-nature wellbeing concept. Rose Dykins reports
From the moment you arrive into the Loire Valley Lodges – a half-hour drive from Saint-Pierre-des-Corps train station – it’s clear that every element of the experience is designed to create the right conditions for mental rest, self-connection, and bringing you closer to the trees.
Set within 300 hectares of private forest, trees are very much supporting characters throughout our stay at the experiential luxury property. We were welcomed by down-to-earth, smiley staff wearing sage jumpers and dungarees, one of whom produced a map of the grounds, and tied fabric bracelets round our wrists, scented with what smelt like pine oil.
Staff can also tell you, based on where your birthday falls in the Celtic tree calendar, what your “protective tree” is, what that says about your personality, and whereabouts in the grounds you can find it (be it naturally occurring in the forest, or as part of the walls of one of the buildings).
Instantly, you see how immersive rituals and storytelling are important to the overall experience of Loire Vally Lodges – small but attentive details that help shift your mindset from whatever you’ve left behind, to focus on connecting with the here and now.
We were dropped off at our lodge with our luggage via golf buggy, trundling through the forest paths. These paths lead you back to the main lodge where the reception, restaurants and pool area are. There are no lamps along these paths in order to prevent light pollution, so each lodge is equipped with a handheld torch for walking back at night, which again, adds to the experience of adapting your senses to the natural surrounds of the forest.
Each of the 18 lodges at Loire Valley Lodges is build on stilts, with stairs up to the front door – apart from one ground-level lodge suitable for guests with reduced mobility, which overlooks its own private pond.
The excitement of staying up amongst the trees really hits you when you open the front door and turn into the bedroom to see the floor to ceiling window wall opposite the king-size bed. There are switch-controlled electric blinds should you want to block out the morning light, and narrow floor-to-ceiling windows that can be fully opened during hot weather. Our lodge felt extremely private and secluded. Being there and in the thick of the trees had a remarkably calming effect, like being in our own Lo-fi video, and we lost hours relaxing, chatting and staring out at that window.
Art plays an important role in Loire Vally Lodges core promise of sensory immersion and taking guests to a place where their mind can wander and self-reflect. As well as having a trail of art sculptures dotted all over the forest, each of the lodges features a unique signature style added by an artist. Our lodge, named “Paradis” was styled by artist and musician CharlElie Couture , who had painted a New York scene directly onto the wall of the lodge above the bed.
Framed photos documenting this process was hanging in the lodge, as well as coffee table books of his urban photography to browse through. In keeping with his aesthetic, furnishings were cosmopolitan, neutral-toned and minimal, and in each lodge the artist’s personality comes through in these touches.
The overall décor of the lodges has the feel of a contemporary luxury cabin in the woods. To the front of our lodge, facing out toward the forest path, was a 25 sqm terrace partially covered terrace with a hot tub.
There’s also a pulley with rope – which is there to support one of our favourite details about our stay. Each morning, breakfast is delivered in a picnic basket to each lodge (upon check in, you can customise your order to a degree). When you wake up, and once your breakfast has arrived and attached to the pulley via a carabiner clip, you tug the rope to make your breakfast reach you, then enjoy it on the terrace of your lodge.
Fresh, organic produce is served: locally caught sashimi salmon, French bread, croissants apple and cinnamon confit, milk, orange juice, jam, butter and tiny shots of mineral water – all of which made for a delicious spread each day.
Each lodge has an espresso machine, a Bodum gooseneck kettle and supplies of ground coffee and various types of tea leaves (including fresh herbs). A karaffe with a charcoal stick can be used to purify the tap water from the bathroom (taking 1-3 hours). Glassware, espresso cups, mugs and quality cutlery are available, along with a mini fridge. There’s an in-room wine-list for ordering a bottle to your lodge should the mood take you.
The lodge’s plush bathroom had a metro-tiled walk-in shower, twin sinks and separate toilet. The organic Leif amenities smelt incredible – especially the Boronia hand wash (nutgrass, Oud and Patchouli. Other amenities included robes, slippers, a safe, a small amount of closet space and a luggage rack.
In keeping with the idea of switching off and focusing on connecting with nature, there is no in-room wifi at Loire Valley Lodges (there is wifi at reception for when you need to check in with the rest of the world). There’s also no in-room phone, so instead, there’s a walkie-talkie for calling reception, which was a fun touch, but we did struggle to get ours working when we called to double check what time we’d booked for dinner. There are EU and USB power ports by each side of the bed.
Another highlight for us was the mango wood speakers, which you can dock your phone in to play music (rather than relying on power) which created a really lovely, organic acoustic). These speakers are on sale in the lodge’s on-site gift shop, and we loved it so much we bought one to take home
The central lodge at Loire Valley Lodges – housing the reception, restaurants and bar – has terrace that runs the length of the building. This looks out across garden beds which, during our visit, were blooming with violet verbena, plump white roses, lavender spheres to the open air pool area.
Here, a golden sculpture of butterflies perching on a skull glints in the sun, with the backdrop of the forest towering behind it, creating a dreamy view from the sun loungers. Drinks from the bar can be served to sun bathers around the pool (which is heated to 27 degrees) and there are changing facilities with towels and blankets, as well as a Nordic plunge pool.
We enjoyed a special dinner at Ardent restaurant (which was extremely busy with locals on a summery Monday evening, advance booking is required). We sipped diablo cocktails on the terrace while we waited for our table (decked out with rattan furniture and tables). “Art is the highest form of hope” is grafted onto the hunters lodge walls, alongside taxidermy stag head and exposed wooden beams.
Chef Thomas Besnault creates menus inspired by everything grown in the resort’s organic fruit and vegetable gardens and readily growing in the forest, with the freshness of everything elevates every dish. The presentation of each dish is meticulous, capitalising on the unique beauty of the ingredients themselves (such as daintily sliced asparagus spears and carefully arranged flower petals) and it’s astonishing how powerful the authentic flavours of each ingredient can taste when cooked this way.
Diners can opt for set menus with four, six our eight courses, each one described as a “moment”. Moments include a monkfish topped with a butter and white garlic sauce, frothed up like cappuccino foam, and a celery soup seasoned with Douglas fir, creating a smokey, bitter well-rounded taste that nods to the forest and lingers in your mouth after each spoonful. A highlight was the smoked rhubarb for dessert topped with a raspberry coulis, fennel and fragments of meringue, followed by nettle sorbet.
The second restaurant at Loire Valley Lodges, Asperatus is also housed in the main lodge, but on a summer evening, we dine in the gravelled courtyard overlooking the aromatic garden. The al fresco open kitchen creates Mediterranean grill dishes, and we tuck into a super tender pork ribs dusted with freshly chopped herbs picked from the garden next to us – once again, the focus is on bringing out the natural flavours, rather than heavy seasoning), and for dessert, a beautifully tart wood-fired crumble.
Service was charming and professional, with excellent wine recommendations from the extensive, all-French selection, with plenty of options to try from the Loire Valley region.
During the day, we borrow mountain bikes and explore the trails using a map of the grounds. Along the way, we climb up rickety (but safe) watchtowers, cycle through fields with waist-level reeds, and pause to listen to the unique sound of frogs shrieking.
Throughout the grounds, seating is informally scattered in scenic spots, including in the middle of the beautiful on-site vegetable gardens, which guests are free to explore. Here’ there’s also an aviary, with a comfy glass-walled viewing cabin next to it. You can take a seat and use the binoculars provided to watch thriving bees at work.
We spend half a day cycling between the art sculptures dotted around the forest grounds, stopping for photos and to take in the scenery, before heading to the pool to lounge in the sun.
Loire Valley Lodges can recommend trails of various lengths for running, hiking or cycling, and can arrange day trips to the nearby Tours (the temporary capital of France during World War II) or hot air balloon rides above the region’s chateaux.
The wellness offering at Loire Valley Lodges fully leans into the surrounding nature. For example, the choice of massages take place on the terrace of your lodge, choreographed to revive your senses with the sounds, smells and light around you. Other tempting options on treatment menu are the three-hour forest bath experience – guided by the property’s founder, Anna Frey – where you’re encouraged to breathe with the trees and open up your senses to the forest on another level, and hour-long sound baths in property’s intriguing new wood and glass panelled, acorn-shaped Zome structure.
Verdict:
After two days at Loire Valley Lodges, our sense of time went out the window. The property creates the conditions that help you lean into being in the moment, and the deep relaxation that comes from giving yourself permission to do nothing. The resort’s near-spiritual approach to connecting guests with nature at every turn feels like something your body and mind is truly craving, something you’d like to bottle up and keep if you could. When we check out, and are presented with our own sapling to take home – so we can take the forest with us – it feels like the final flourish to a perfectly written story.
Price:
Stays at Loire Valley Lodges start from €440 euros per night including breakfast.