Château de Behen

Die ruhige Lage, der zuvorkommende Besitzer und das sehr feine Frühstück.

Herrlich ruhige Lage mit Blick auf hübsche Pferde im Schlosspark und sehr freundlicher Besitzer! Gutes Frühstück mit frischen Croissants, Saft und Käse!

It was authentic chateau hosted by a wonderful gentleman and we had a fabulous one night stay here

There was nothing to not like at all. It was perfect and the host genuinely cared about us having a wonderful stay

The building exterior remains undeniably handsome. The grounds are now home to various farm animals, including a cow and its calf, a 3 day old foal, 2 alpaca, geese and a cat. This added new levels of quirkiness, and some excitement when the calf escaped from its field and started running around the grounds! Breakfast was ok, with croissants and bread from a local bakery.

There should be a universally accepted term to describe run-down Chateaux used as hotels. Not shabby chic. Shabby-yes, chic-no. Faded-Chateau? Once inside, the hotel felt like staying at an elderly relative’s dilapidated house. Charming, I think, is the obligatory word to use. The decor looked like it was last updated in the 1980s (peeling wallpaper, mismatched new floorboards etc). The place would obviously require significant investment to bring up to boutique hotel standards, and it’s difficult to see it getting the footfall to repay such a cost. At £300 a night, I expect this was a scant contribution to the running costs, but at the same time, you are left wondering what the fee gets you, apart from a dusty room. Like many similar places, you are left wondering what it was like in its heyday, and at what point the decline started. Which brings me back to my first point - setting expectations. Chateaux photograph generously, and reviews are subject to experience and expectations of similar destinations. Judging by the visitor book, many people find the chateau endearing and enjoy their visit. We would probably opt for a cleaner, spruced-up hotel in future. This kind of detail is concealed by standard descriptions and reviews, so maybe a tag of “faded-Chateau” should be added to aid future hotel searches!