Domaine des Etangs: the best French getaway for foodies

Fancy five-star relaxation while gorging yourself on the glories of locavore French gastronomy? Of course you do.

Time, then, to update your palate with a weekend chez Domaine des Etangs, where the most incredible south-western French produce is grown on the doorstep, there are dozens of activities and miles of land to roam without leaving the grounds, and the atmosphere is as soothing as a silent vibrational yoga retreat.

Domaine des Etangs sits in 1,000 hectares of bucolic fields and woodland, roamed by 800 Limousin cows, in Cognac country, a two-hour drive north of Bordeaux. The 11th-century château was refurbished in 2015 by Madame Garance Primat, daughter of oil baron Didier, who grew up with the Domaine as a holiday home. Madame Primat likes art, a lot, and the Domaine is as much large-scale exhibition as gourmet hotel.

Picasso and Matisse confront each other in a sitting room; signed Tintin cartoons hang in our huge, gallery-esque Soleil suite, fit for a hipster Louis XIV. There are 11 suites in total, and six two-to-five bedroomed farm cottages around the estate, each by a lake, with a rowboat and electric car for scooting around.

But back to the food, namely at the Domaine’s Michelin-starred Dyades, where chef Loïc Lecoin cooks hyper-seasonal ingredients sourced from the surrounding area — truffles from Périgord, goat’s cheese from Charentes, wonderful milk so fresh it practically moos. Eighty per cent of the veg comes from the restaurant garden; arriving at the start of asparagus season, that meant white asparagus and pear sorbet one night, a sculptural white asparagus and halibut dish the next. Locally sourced foie gras featured, as did a cheese trolley, after-dinner cognac and a lot of Pineau des Charentes, the regional aperitif wine made from cognac eau de vie and grape juice.

To eat so wondrously at every meal could get a little extravagant; luckily there is the option of gorgeous picnic hampers, to be unpacked at an idyllic spot thoughtfully marked on the Domaine map, plus a flurry of activities to burn off excess foie gras and Pineau hangovers. A forest walk with gamekeeper Jean-Francois should be mandatory: smiley but with Spider-Man reflexes, he grew up exploring the Domaine and knows everything from where the wild boar take their evening bath to the names of electric blue-bellied beetles and exotic mushrooms. Bikes are propped everywhere, encouraging exploring; there are also two swimming pools and a spa. The library, hung with a sculpture of the planets, invites snoozing off large breakfasts of otherworldly pastries, local yoghurt and honey from the château’s beehives.

In French, ‘restaurant’ originally meant a place where one went to be restored. Domaine des Etangs has that down to a T.

Frankie was a guest of Domaine des Etangs, rooms from £350 B&B (domainedesetangs.com). Air France flies to Bordeaux from £128 return (airfrance.co.uk)