Le Bon Laboureur

Le Bon Laboureur Review

In 1882 this ivy-covered inn won Henry James's praise, and thanks to four generations of the Jeudi family, the author might be even more impressed today—this remains one of the Loire's most stylish and wonderful auberges, with charm in abundance. Many guest rooms are enchantingly accented in toile de Jouy fabrics, rustic wainscoting, tiny lamps, and Redouté pink-and-blue pastels. Those in the main house are comfortably sized (a few overlook the main street—avoid these if you are a light sleeper), those in the former stables are larger (some overlook a pert vegetable garden) and more renovated, but our favorites are the quaint rooms in the separate patio house near the terrace. Bag a table in the "old" dining room (not the more modern ones), whose wood-beam ceiling, glazed terra-cotta walls, and Louis XVI chairs are almost as elegant as chef Jean-Marie Burnet's turbot with fennel.