If asked to plump for the purest pastoral region of France, it’s always a toss up between the Jura/Doubs in Franche-Comté or Gascony. Both areas have very few hotels which achieve that elusive balance between an appropriate rustic simplicity and those additional refinements which today’s customers have come to expect.
The Relais du Bastidou, however, succeeds in spades. Here we have a typical Gascon farmhouse set deep in the heart of the glorious rolling countryside that is the hallmark of the Gers department. It’s a Logis de Caractère where the calm is serene and the hospitality convivial although often somewhat dictatorial. A sauna, jacuzzi and internet access from the mezzanine above the restaurant are the only sops to modernity. The bedrooms are in a converted stable block with exposed beams and natural stone to the fore. Higher priced accommodations are particularly spacious but all rooms have a good dollop of rustic chic.
Cuisine is noteworthy. René Thierry chooses his suppliers with great care and is equally at home with seafood and fish as he is with Gascon specialities. In cooler weather, you dine in the restaurant with its high stone walls and huge brick fireplace.
Our quoted room rates quoted exclude the first fortnight in August; count on a mighty hike in half-board terms (prices in brackets) when the Jazz Festival - est. 1978 - takes place in the nearby bastide town of Marciac.