The rooms of L'Oréliane, guesthouse in Provence

Hello Christine
Your guest house now offers 5 beautiful rooms. Has this been the case since the beginning of this beautiful adventure?

→ Initially, when we opened L'Oréliane in May 2015, we started with 3 rooms. The new space we had renovated didn't allow us to do more. It was only 3 years later, in May 2018, that we decided to encroach on our private area to make one more room, Alphonsine. Today, in April 2022, we have just finished the 5th bedroom, Livaline.

Where do these names come from? Angevine, Muscadine, Cardinale, Alphonsine and Livaline?

→ These names were born out of a real family consultation! Together, we looked for names for table grape varieties, as a tribute to the profession of Dominique, my husband, and his parents, winegrowers. Our village, Châteauneuf-de-Gadagne, is a wine-growing village and proud to have the Côtes du Rhône Village Gadagne appellation. If you're interested, you can read the article on our blog here. Chance led us to these grape varieties, not least because they could be used in feminine forms...

A nice nod to the history of the village and your own family! Now, why don't you tell us a little more about these rooms.

What can you say about Angevine?

→ Angevine has a very special place in the family because Dominique spent his entire childhood and adolescence there. We wanted a bedroom with an open-plan bath, and this was the one that lent itself most to that because of its layout. We hunted for bargains at the Foire à la Brocante et à l'Antiquité de Pâques in Isle sur la Sorgue and ended up finding this pretty walk-in bath! Dominique and Mélanie, one of our two daughters, customised it.
We restored some furniture that belonged to Marianne, my mother-in-law. I made curtains from sheets that also belonged to her. Cotton sheets in Provence at the time were of a much higher quality than they are today! I designed the headboard and bedside tables, which Dominique cut out and then painted.

So you're all very good with your hands in the family!

What can you say about Muscadine?

→ I designed and created the headboard and chandelier with my friend Cathy. I also restored the beams in the bathroom. I had more difficulty restoring the wardrobe that I'd found at a little grandpa's. Well, it gives it a style! We got the bathroom basin and the bedside tables from Dominique's parents.

About Cardinale?

→ For our 25^th wedding anniversary we took a trip to a beautiful bed and breakfast in the Pays Cathare. The room we were staying in had the same colours. We really liked it and it inspired Cardinale. I restored my grandparents' wardrobe and the headboard we found at a garage sale. The mirror belonged to my mother-in-law.

And Alphonsine?

→ This pretty bedroom was created by combining 2 of our children's bedrooms. In fact, the wardrobe was in our son's bedroom. The headboard was made from the door of my mother-in-law's chicken coop. People love it! Alphonsine is big, but we've still managed to make a little cocoon out of her... An effect no doubt accentuated by its attic aspect.

And we still have Livaline, the latest addition to the Guest House. Beautiful Livaline...

→ The work on Livaline took much longer than we had imagined, but what a result! We had great ambitions for this fifth and final room, which is even a little more upmarket than the others. We're delighted to be able to rent it out now.
With its chromotherapy whirlpool bath for 2 people, it's perfect for lovers who have something to celebrate. There's also a large shower and separate toilet, as well as untinted glass. Here we've mixed styles and chosen natural shades with a predominantly green theme. We designed and created the light fittings and the headboard. And I crocheted the cotton gauze curtains myself. A real cocoon of luxury!

- Do you have a preference for any of them?

→ I don't have a preference for a room because I've imagined and dreamt them all over several years! Each one awakens in me the memory of a cherished object, chosen with love...

- And in your family, which one do you prefer?

→ Dominique prefers Cardinale... Maybe because she's romantic, like him! Ahahaha. Maybe I won't go into that... Women always want more romance from their men. In any case, it's true that Cardinale fits in perfectly with the romantic packs we offer: its colours, red and white, its little canopy, its feather lights...

I think my children like them all. Finally, Mélanie prefers Cardinale because it's very bright, unlike Paris where she misses the brightness of the South. The boys prefer Angevine for the bath and the view over the village. And Amandine really likes Alphonsine because it's the biggest.

- What do your hosts say to you most often about these rooms?

→ Usually it only takes a few seconds when Angevine's door opens to hear "oh I love the bath". Then right after "oh the beautiful village, is that a castle up there? ". When I open Cardinale's door, it's the brightness, the white feather light fittings and the embroidered curtains that catch my eye. As for Muscadine, it's appreciated for its cocooning atmosphere, its chandelier and its direct access to the outside, for the pool or for smoking. And when I open Alphonsine's door, I often hear the same thing: "Wow, it's big! The bed's big too. The headboard is very pretty. Oh the beams...! And you can see the pool from here! I love the bathroom".
As for Livaline, which is opening its doors to guests this month, we'll have to wait a little longer to find out what people have to say about it!

- Are there any guests who come back regularly and swear by one of these rooms?

The people who come back like to try out all the rooms, but my Belgian friends, Monique and Pierre, love Muscadine and when they see photos with other people in them, they say to me "But what are these people doing in our room? "Which warms my heart, because the very aim of the Maison d'hôtes is to make people feel almost as at home here.