Chateau de Massillan

Normally, book a 16th-century château hotel, and you know what you’re getting into — food and wine, postcard-perfect scenery, and rooms that look a bit like a museum exhibit, drafty and full of creaky antique furniture. The surprise at the Château de Massillan is that while the food, wine and scenery are just as you’d expect, the interiors are chic and contemporary, designed by someone with a 21st-century eye.

This makes sense in light of the fact that the owners are London interior designers, whose spare, graphic style makes the most of the château’s twelve rooms. Nothing is lost in the visual translation — if anything the views of the Côtes-du-Rhône countryside look better from within these modern-luxe bedrooms. These days bathrooms are as important as bedrooms — all but one of the rooms come with bathtubs, and all are spacious, well-lit and well-mirrored.

Dining is understandably a big deal here — breakfast in-room, lunch al fresco in the courtyard by the pool, dinner in the traditional dining room beneath an ornate crystal chandelier, accompanied by an extensive wine list. You’re twenty minutes from Avignon, should you wish to explore, surrounded by world-famous vineyards, historical attractions Roman and French, and miles and miles of great outdoors, suited for hiking, biking, even canoeing.