A quirky hotel in Cadillac

The hotel in Cadillac is a funny little place but very comfortable and in a fantastic location. It’s just a short walk into the village which has a couple of really nice restaurants where we’ve enjoyed lunch and dinner. Cadillac has everything you could possibly want and the Saturday market left me longing to buy food and vegetables to take home and cook – one of the difficulties of staying in a hotel! We went up to the Maison du Vin and tasted some of the local desert wine which is so light and fruity and we managed to make just a few purchases. It even has the necessary laundrette where the lady did the ironing for us as well as the washing.
The hotel is a fairly modern building with a great view of the chateau and a pleasant garden and field at the back. What I fail to understand is how they put a hotel in such an attractive place but decide not to put any sensible windows in the rooms so that you can’t actually see anything from your room unless you hang out of the window! Still it is very well furnished and has a nice bathroom. The staff are not terribly chatty but the grey parrot which sits in reception makes up for it by whistling away most of the time and even manages a passably ‘hello’! There are also 5 little deer who live in the field at the back and occasionally pass by. They may pass by quite often but due to the lack of a sensible window it’s a bit hard to tell.
The pool here is wonderful – really big, though unheated so it takes a big breath to get in, but after that it’s great for lengths which are becoming increasingly necessary with all the large lunches and fine wine. I think we were a bit spoiled at the Tremblaye in the food department as the restaurant here is nice but not in the same league. We’ve had a couple of nice meals but after that preferred to go out. We have a feeling the chef might be on holiday as there isn’t much of a selection and I nearly burned my mouth on some fish – unusual for monkfish to need to be quite that hot!
We solved this week’s travel related problem when the travel kettle started smoking and John drove round a number of supermarkets till we found a new one in LeClerc. Carrefour could sell you all manner of unnecessary electrical devices including blood pressure monitors (not saying that’s totally unnecessary but would you go to a supermarket to buy one?!), citrus presses and yoghurt makers but you could only buy a kettle in a set with a toaster and a coffee maker. The travel kettle is, I’m afraid an absolute essential, as we’re too mean to pay over 20 Euros for a coffee and a croissant in the hotels so we need our hot drink in the morning and a cuppa at five o’clock. I have my provisions bag with tea, coffee, sugar and mini milk – sad I know but that’s the British for you!