Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay

The Paris Society brand is not strictly a hotel company — its portfolio is heavier on restaurants than on rooms — but nor are they amateurs at this business. The Abbaye des Vaux-de-Cernay is their first entry into the world of country-house hotels, and it’s a confident one. The raw material is a medieval abbey that was restored and expanded in the late 19th century by the Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild; today, after another round of careful attention, it’s been transformed once more, into a thoroughly impressive country escape.

Its rooms and suites occupy the originaly abbey building as well as the reconditioned stables; they’re joined by the freestanding, self-contained pavilions, for families or larger parties. Across all categories they combine historical character and a contemporary sensibility, and the comforts are modern, though unobtrusive.

The stables are also home to the Abbaye’s spa and wellness area; elsewhere on the grounds you’ll find a kids’ club, a private cinema, a gaming room, a pair of tennis courts, and of course endless parkland to wander. Bikes are available for exploring on land, and boats for getting out on the lake.

And it’s no surprise, given Paris Society’s particular expertise, that the food and beverage offerings go rather beyond typical hotel fare. Les Chasses, in the Rothschild family’s old hunting lodge, is joined by the Hogwarts-like Réfectoire des Moines, as well as a traditional country table and an Italian trattoria.