The Great B&B Challenge – Nicola Crosse on the French B&Bs that set the standard
Sawday's Expert
5 min read
Nicola Crosse, one of our most experienced inspectors, is a judge on Channel 4‘s The Great B&B Challenge, in which she helps decide which of six prospective couples gets to start a new business and a new life in rural France. We asked her to pick a few Sawday’s places she thinks have set the standard, showing the generosity, creativity and attention to detail that she’ll be looking for on the show.
Les Cieux de Saint-Félix, Dordogne
There’s no point staying in a B&B in the Dordogne if the owners don’t know their food. The whole region invites you to check in, sit back and let a chef work a little magic with local produce. In this old house – the epitome of rustic charm, with weathered stone walls and wooden shutters over the windows – Gaël makes his own foie gras and cooks only Périgordine dishes, using truffles, duck, wonderful puddings and cheeses. Local wines are Monbazillac and Bergerac and he can organise and advise on tastings anywhere you choose.
Secret Pyrenees, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
At Sawday’s, we’re accustomed to owners with strong local knowledge. We actively seek them out, in fact. Normally, this is along the lines of contacts in nearby vineyards and which are the best village markets, but not for Tobias & Zayne at Secret Pyrenees. They can tell you all that stuff, of course, but Tobias is an adventure sports expert and also knows every trail and stream for miles around. Between them, they can set you up for a holiday that’s as relaxed or as thrilling as you like, with the grounds of their stunning mountain home yours to wander at the end of the day.
Les Chambres du parc, Jura
I love a place where the owners have a bit of a menagerie. It’s hard to be uptight when you’ve got animals chewing things and escaping all the time, so you tend to get a more laid-back atmosphere. Nell and Clement have goats, chickens and a donkey on the land around their beautiful 14th-century farmhouse and are suitably relaxed, happy to serve breakfast in the lounge by the wood burner, at the poolside or anywhere else you choose. I’ve also never felt so at home wandering into the kitchen to make myself something for dinner – a feature which many offer in theory but few make you feel comfortable doing in practice.
Le Patio de Collias, Gard
Young Angèle Lebleu, is on her first solo foray into running a B&B after years in the industry. It’s fair to say she knows what she’s doing. The place is traditionally French in style and beautifully done, feeling chic and classy but never fussy or too contrived. It also feels very much part of the village, little Collias, which is a perfectly pleasant to bumble around if you don’t fancy the short trip to Uzes, Avignon or Pont du Gard. Angèle bakes cakes almost every day and breakfast is served where and how you’d like it – everything done with an air of casual, genuine friendliness.
Château Ribagnac, Haute-Vienne
Owners Colette and Patrick are so good at what they do that the team from The Great B&B Challenge sent all the contestants down to their turreted châteaux to quiz them on how they do it. I’m sure they told them that it’s a complete state of mind. I’ve never seen a single written house rule or warning sign at Château Ribagnac and I doubt I ever will. You’re invited to dive into the lake or the pool, send the kids off to the playground, roam the woods or sprawl in front of the fires in winter, all as if you were at home. It’s the sort of place where you happily pad around barefoot or fall asleep on a sofa and never feel self-conscious for a second.
Nicola Crosse
Sawday's Expert
Nic modestly describes herself as a pig keeper with typing skills. Having been at the company since it was run from an old farmhouse, she is actually the ultimate arbiter of whether or not a place is right for us. She divides her time between caring for our owners, inspecting new places and appearing as a judge on Channel 4’s The Great B&B Challenge. She is presently pigless, but plans are a-trotter for a bit of land and a new litter.
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