Explore Van Gogh’s Provence
There’s nothing sweeter than leaving London on the Eurostar in the morning and to be sipping something cold and pink in Provence by aperitif time (tip: switch to the TGV in Lille to avoid having to change stations in Paris).
Just 10 minutes in a taxi from Avignon TGV station, Le Moulin d’Aure is a charmingly restored mas (farmhouse) on the edge of the village of Graveson. The best of the 19 bedrooms have balconies or terraces overlooking the olive trees, while in the large garden there’s a pool and plenty of quiet corners.
Local bike hire companies can deliver bikes for the 30-minute ride to pretty Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, with its Wednesday morning market. This is where Vincent Van Gogh was a patient in the Saint-Paul de Mausole psychiatric hospital after cutting off part of his left ear. It is where he painted The Starry Night, among other works, and there’s a signposted tour around town, taking in landscapes that inspired the artist.
Back at Le Moulin, its Italian restaurant Tutti Quanti dishes up fresh pasta beneath the pergola, while for more variety Graveson, 15 minutes’ walk away, has a handful of restaurants on its long central square.
Doubles from €75 room-only, breakfast about €18, hotel-moulindaure.com
Sleepy, leafy Normandy
In the Orne region of Normandy, Le Perche nature park is the kind of rural idyll Parisians decamp to in order to explore sleepy villages and quiet forests. Just half an hour by train from the French capital to L’Aigle, then a 30-minute taxi to Mortagne, Trama en Perche is the new four-bedroom guesthouse of two former Parisian restaurateurs, Marion Trama and Paul Hayat.
Breakfast is a highlight, served in the garden when the sun is out. Local produce (sheep’s milk cheeses, freshly baked bread, fruit jams) feature alongside brioche French toast and blinis with crab remoulade.
Marion and Paul are also a fount of local knowledge, and can arrange bike hire (an autumnal favourite includes a detour to family-run cider producer La Maison Ferré) or recommend walkable restaurants, such as La Biscuiterie for salads and cakes or La Vie en Rouge for natural wine and small plates.
Much of the decor at Trama en Perche has been sourced from the area’s antique and brocante shops, and there are numerous stores around Mortagne to rummage in.
Doubles from about €170 B&B, tramaenperche.fr
Beach life in Zeeland, the Netherlands
There’s a quiet, wild beauty to coastal towns in autumn, and with its wide beach looking out to the North Sea, Zeeland’s Cadzand is a perfect example. Strandhotel, on a dune just back from the golden sands, is a lovely vantage point to watch whatever weather rolls in. It’s a great time right now for kite- and windsurfing offshore, or stick to dry land and beachcomb at low tide for the fossilised shark teeth that part of the coast is famous for.
Just a couple of miles north of the Belgian border, the easiest route here is via Brussels, changing for a direct train to Knokke-Heist (about 1½ hours), where you can pick up a taxi across to Cadzand (30 minutes). This being the Netherlands, there are excellent cycle paths, and bike hire across the street from the hotel. The nearby Zwin nature reserve offers good birdspotting – you can also explore the salt flats and polder behind the dunes.
Back at the hotel, there’s an indoor pool and saunas to unwind in, while the three restaurants range from Michelin-starred Demain to laid-back Beach Boy, which overlooks the marina and serves Zeeland oysters.
Doubles from €212 B&B, strandhotel.eu
Family-friendly forest fun near Paris
A former royal hunting estate on the south-west fringes of Paris, the 14,000-hectare Fôret de Rambouillet sprawls across the capital’s commuter belt. Cycle tracks and walking trails cut through thickets of oak and pine trees and, in autumn, mushrooms and chestnuts. In among it all, Le Barn is a modern country house for city-weary citizens (train to Dourdan or Rambouillet from Paris; from there it’s a 15-20 minute taxi).
The hotel shares an estate with the renowned Haras de la Cense horsemanship schools and equine activities are a big part of the appeal. They include children’s first rides, proper hacks through the woodland (riding from about £13) and horse whispering sessions (complimentary on daily activity schedule). Other options are yoga, archery, rowing boats on the lake – with some spooky extra fun over Halloween weekend.
There’s also a spa for grownups, and a restaurant serving classic French fare – and with no checkout deadline on Sundays, there’s plenty of time to get stuck in.
Doubles from about £175 room-only, including a daily programme of activities, lebarnhotel.com
Yoga, eco-living and a garden restaurant in Wallonia, Belgium
Many British travellers don’t venture far beyond Belgium’s circuit of cities (canal-crossed Bruges, funky Ghent, fashionable Antwerp), but those who do find dense forests, ancient castles and historic villages to explore.
The battle of Waterloo took place at the village of the same name in the rolling Wallonia countryside south of Brussels, and 10km further south again is Indrani Lodge, a wonderfully peaceful bolthole on the fringes of Genappe (take a train from Brussels to Nivelles, then a 15-minute taxi). A former medieval farm, it’s now a 12-bedroom eco-minded yoga hotel.
A large part of the gardens is turned over to permaculture, growing produce that makes its way on to plates in the Petits Éléments restaurant. In autumn that might include Jerusalem artichoke, pumpkin and butternut squash, alongside eggs from Indrani’s chickens, honey from its bees and apple juice from its orchards.
There are numerous yoga classes each day (iyengar, vinyasa, hatha), as well as retreats and twice-monthly Sunday Slow Days, which include two classes, brunch and a workshop (ceramics, flower arranging). Or slow down under your own steam with a massage, or a dip in the geothermally heated pool in the old barn.
Doubles from €163 B&B, indranilodge.com
Cycling – and tastings – in the vineyards in Burgundy
Tom Kevill-Davies knows a thing or two about cycling and eating. In 2005 he set off from New York and rode 12,000 miles to Rio de Janeiro in search of the perfect meal. After writing a book about his experience, he settled in Burgundy and added wine to the equation, turning a derelict 17th-century water mill in the village of Auxey-Duresses into The Hungry Cyclist Lodge. Guests can set off each day to pedal around the surrounding vineyards, winding between tastings and lunches, and relax back at the lodge (which has a swimming pool).
Bring a bike on the train (TGV from Paris to Dijon), then a short connection to Beaune and a 10km bike – or taxi – ride from the station. Or rent one when you get there (€22 a day for a hybrid). Next door to the lodge is a small vineyard of Gamay, where Tom’s family produce around 500 bottles a year of their Vin Du Moulin. Try it over a dinner that Tom whips up from fruit and veg grown in the garden and meat from the local butcher – in autumn this might include guinea fowl roasted over raisins and tarte tatin with fig leaf ice-cream.
Doubles from €170 B&B, dinner €40pp excluding wine, thehungrycyclist.com
