Le Relais de Franc Mayne Saint Emilion

We had a very relaxing couple of nights at this historic relais in the heart of Saint-Émilion. On property you will discover a true “relais” (old post station and traveler rest station) among other natural and man made wonders. On our first morning we woke to find the entire estate and surrounding area blanketed in patchy fog that only added to the scenic beauty of the place. Needless to say it made for an amazing sunrise walk around the grounds. We were treated to wonderful breakfasts served with a smile by Pascale who was our early in the week host. We really appreciated the care and extra effort she and Rachel provided to ensure a very lovely stay. Our small critique would be that while the bedding itself was top notch, the typical twin mattresses that made up our “queen” were not the most comfortable. Also, the drain in the shower was slow enough to cause water to backup and flow out onto the bathroom floor.

We truly loved the treehouse - with the views in the morning and evening just being stunning! Add to that the excellent breakfast and ‘free’ wine tour and this is truly a place to come back to! So why then a 4 star rating (and not the maximum of 5): the cleaning lady ‘forgot’ to service our treehouse and we needed to ask for basic items like shampoo or toilet paper (not what you would expect when paying a premium).

We had a lovely time here - Pascal was a charming host! The interior has been redone and it is very tasteful With a young baby Pascal was very helpful organising cutlery and plates for us to self cater in the evening Fantastic setting with a short and enjoyable walk into the main part of saint emilion The breakfast scrambled eggs at breakfast were delicious!

We stayed at Franc Mayne for our honeymoon (and noted this in our reservation). However, the "romantic tree house room overlooking the vineyards" was absolutely terrible, especially considering the astronomical price we paid and we felt like no effort was made to compensate us for our poor experience. We expected a secure room with a high quality finish and to be treated exceptionally well. However, this was not the case. THE ROOM Here are the list of issues with the room... - The door wouldn't lock, meaning anyone could get into our room. The only thing stopping people getting in was an easily scalable, waist high gate. - In addition, the safe didn't work, so we couldn't secure our valuables in our room. - The rain shower wouldn't work. - The complimentary WiFi was not accessible as it was too far from the main house. - The gate leading into the tree house was incredibly stiff to use. - The hand rails and stairs leading up to the room were rough, the stairs felt loose under foot and the whole tree house was in need of maintenance. - not the fault of the owner, but it was also swarming with wasps making the little balcony unusable (I suspect there was a nest at the bottom of the stairs). THE FACILITIES Generally, the facilities weren't without issue too, particularly the pool.. - the surface of the water in the swimming pool was full of dead bugs and needed cleaning - the perimeter of the pool was infested with ants and needed treating - the area surrounding the pool was all laid to grass meaning you had to get your feet dirty when walking around it (as well as avoid the wasps in the grass!) - we were told there would be pool towels in our room, but they were missing. When we were given them, they were old. THE SERVICE Rachel was pleasant with us and did things like book us taxis to and from the hotel. She also offered great service during breakfast (which was very nice). However, it was our honeymoon, our room was awful and we were only transferred to another room after having to stay a night in the tree house. It should have been the first thing that was offered to us. We were moved to the flat above the old post office which was very nice, but it seemed like no one had been in there for months. I also had to haul our 25kg case from the tree house down narrow steps up to the other over uneven ground without offer of any help. At the end of the stay, we were offered nothing for our trouble - no partial refund, not even complimentary wine. Just an apology. Frankly, it was not good enough.