Au Périgord Noir

Hospitality: Frequent praise for warm, welcoming hosts and attentive service.

If you want a fantastic view from your room and a wonderful dinner this is the hotel for you. I think this is our third visit. Madame is wonderfully welcoming and if you don't speak French her English is excellent. The rooms are spacious, spotlessly clean and the beds are extremely comfortable. Husband is a bit sniffy about the module bathroom which looks very plastic but it offers plenty of room and the water pressure and temperature of the shower is excellent. It is also spotless. The hotel is completely accessible for anyone in a wheelchair and there are specific parking spaces right by the entrance door of the hotel if you have mobility problems. The outstanding thing about this hotel is the food. In the UK I would usually say do not eat in the hotel dining room, go find a decent restaurant but here I would say don't bother using your car and having to forego having some alcohol. You will have 3 choices for starter, main course and desert. Amazingly for France this includes a vegetarian option for the starter and main course and I have been known to take those excellent options. Tonight I started with layers of black pudding and apple topped with the lightest of pastry with a gentle flavoured curry sauce accompanied by a mix of dressed salad leaves which was excellent. I had very favourable reports of husband's starter too. Then for me it was sturgeon, beautifully presented with long-stemmed brocoli, pea shoots, leek and a bed of mashed potato. The sauce was beautifully delicate, a lovely shade of green and to my shame I can't remember what its ingredients were. Husband went for the duck which looked superb, just slightly pink and beautifully tender. The sauce looked so good I mopped some with my bread and it was excellent. We both went for the cheeseboard which included 5 types of cheese, mixed leaves dressing walnut oil and very fresh tasting walnuts. Cheeses included a gentle sheep cheese, a hard cheese from Dome which tasted a little like a sharp parmesan, a cheese with truffles with a lovely flavour, a really good blue and I can't remember the 5th. Portion size was excellent so I could manage 3 courses. The wine choice was great. We went for Ca Sulfit Bergerac because we liked the word play (Ca suffit = that's enough - as in fist banging on table Sans sulfits means without sulphites in the wine, which most wines have) and it is organic and entirely Merlot grapes. The scent was lovely and tasted velvety smooth. Breakfast is a little disappointing in comparison but absolutely OK. Plenty of choice. There is a swimming pool which looks ideal for use at the right time of year. The views, as mentioned, are fantastic and for many rooms will include the Chateau Hautefort which is a must see. In terms of architecture you will ask yourself how on earth planning permission was granted for the hotel because it is not at all in keeping with the area. The current Mo sieur et Madame had nothing to do with the original build. This y