Château de Saint Paterne

Appearances are not always deceiving. Château de Saint Paterne is exactly what it looks like: a Renaissance-era château in Saint-Paterne, on the outskirts of Alençon, close to the border between Normandy and the Pays de la Loire and characteristic of neither, or both. The house and its 18th-century addition contain a mere five rooms and six suites, each of them unique, from the Chambre d’Henri IV, named for its most famous overnight guest, to the Datcha, a freestanding larch wood cottage with a private sauna and jacuzzi. Dinner is served in the candlelit dining room after an apéritif in the drawing room or out in the gardens.