After a long, 5-day bicycle trek, we hope to collapse in a lovely, beautiful inn or hotel within an hour or two of Montreal -- but in the countryside. Any suggestions? We'd like it to be along the lines of Manoir Hovey or Ripplecove. Thanks!

Are the Ripplecove and Manoir Hovey too far away for you? If not, the Auberge Hatley (www.northhatley.com) and the Auberge Georgeville (www.aubergegeorgeville.com) are in the same area.

In Knowlton (Lac Brome) there is the Auberge Lakeview (www.quebecweb.com/lakeview).

In Sainte-Adele is one of my favourites, L'Eau à la Bouche (www.leaualabouche.com).

I have heard good things about Spa Eastman, in Eastman (www.spa-eastman.com), and Les Trois Tilleuls (www.relaischateaux.fr/tilleuls) in St-Marc-sur-Richelieu.

Further afield in Grand-Mere are the Auberge Le Flores (www.leflores.com) and Auberge Sante du lac des Neiges (www.aubergesantelacdesneiges.gc.ca), and perhaps too far but keep in mind for future trips is Manoir de Tilly (www.manoirdetilly.com).

Thanks so much for all that information, JQReports -- I'll look into them!

I was at the Ripplecove last fall and loved it...

Mitchdesj--

If you happen to read this, can you post more about Ripplecove? I am staying there for three nights of my honeymoon this coming September and would love to hear your impressions of the Inn.

Thank you.

Richelle, the inn is beautiful and the surroundings also. September should be perfect. It has been updated and maintained to an optimal state. The dining room is a classic, we ate there 3 nights and
had 3 superb dinners, service is very attentive. We were able to book massages in our room with 24hour notice.
The Ripplecove is reputed to be the best out of the inns of the area. DH and I also went for a spa afternoon at the Spa Eastman before checkin in to the Ripplecove.

There is a bar off the dining room where you can lounge in the afternoon and have a cappucino, other areas also in the main building to read and relax. I only have praise for the Ripplecove; I think you'll enjoy it a lot !!

I noticed a pool and there are lawn chairs by the lake; we were there late october. The views are superb.

Bonjour:

My wife & I speak passable French, I hope you do. It is very useful in the small villages of Quebec.

Beware of the Hotel Mont Gabriel in Ste. Adele. The hotel has nice facilities but shady management.
We reserved a "Tyrol" mountain/valley view room, but were stuck with a parking lot view in an old wing.
We argued with the manager for over any hour as he had staff show us rooms other than the 1 we had reserved.
Changing to another hotel was too much trouble so we accepted a room inferior to the 1 we reserved. Hotels.com our booking agent provided a discount at their cost.
During our stay we noticed all the patrons in the "Tyrol" wing seemed French Canadien. It seemed management prefered French Canadiens, other Canadians, and somewhere down the line were Americans.

JSM

Rather than a "conspiracy" against Americans , perhaps the shady management had a reservation mix-up ? Perhaps there were a lot of French Canadians /Canadians because you were in a very " french " area of Quebec ...??? Bound to find lotsa Canadians here , we're all over !!!! lol

Given that this was Hotels.com, I bet it was using this questionable service and not alleged bias that got you in trouble.

We spent a few days in the Eastern Townships on our way to Vermont with our bicycles on the back of the car! IT WAS GREAT! We stayed in Knowlton, Lac Brome, and had a good time there...it's a nice very ENGLISH village so me and my wife had no trouble meeting the locals! There was a website that gave us some help and it had some recent news on the area on Quebec:http://www.destinationknowlton.com