Chateau de Villars: Gluten Free Magnificence in the French Countryside
My favourite place to be in the whole wide world, apart from my own backyard, and maybe my bath, with a glass of wine and candles, is the French countryside. Actually I love everything there is to love about the French…the language of course to start with, so romantic, but then it is simply how everything they do is with the aesthetic in mind, from the clothes they wear to the gardens they design and the buildings they live in and the food they create. Beautiful. They and all they have is just beautiful…at least the bits that I’ve chosen to observe are.
So when I finally got the chance to step onto French soil some 9 years ago I was beyond excited. My husband and I were travelling for a short part-work, part-holiday to England, without our children for the first time (then 17, 15 and 12yrs), and so the concept of flitting across the Chanel for a few nights to the City of Lights was completely irresistible. My dream come true. I still clearly remember my first conversation with a real life French person in French. I used my carefully practiced & accented ‘Bonjour Monsieur, comment allez-vous?’ on the taxi driver at the train station on arrival and nearly fell over when he replied in rapid French something of course completely unintelligible to me…he had not only understood me but he thought I could speak French! That was it. I was in love with the City of Love. I came to realise actually that most of my French phrases were absolutely useless as I had no hope of understanding the French babble that came back to me in response to my questions of ‘C’est combien s’il vous plait?’ but they loved me for trying and so we did not encounter the famous French attitude at all!
The point of this prelude is that prior to the trip, as a coeliac, I did my due diligence and researched where I could find gluten free options in Paris. Sadly at that time there was not much on offer at all. I ate a lot of cheese sans the bread, I looked wistfully into many a patisserie as I walked by at their beautifully artistic pastry creations that I could not enjoy, and I frequently munched on boring fruit and muesli bars that I had bought with me. However, my broader Google search for gluten free France had discovered something very intriguing…a chateau in the south west of France that specialized in gluten free catering. A chateau. In the French countryside. Fully gluten free. Well. There was the inception of Trip #2 to France. I simply had to find a way to come back again so that I could stay in Paradise. And there you have it. Four years later my husband and I ventured back to France as part of an amazing European trip to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary, and we managed a stay of 5 nights at the Chateau. It was heaven.
So let me take you on a journey to the picturesque region of Dordogne, south west France, where the beautiful Chateau de Villars can be found.
Chateau de Villars is situated in the tiny village of Villars, nor far from Bordeaux in the Dordogne region. The Dordogne is famous for its truffles and is also known for its picturesque countryside and river side towns such as Brantome & Perigueux.
You can get there by fast train from Paris in about 3 hours or fly to nearby Limoge or Bordeaux and a local train will bring you close by. It is recommended to hire a car so that you have the flexibility to explore the region as you like, and there is SO much to explore. I will detail some of the tourist highlights in a moment, but first I want to explain why a trip to this chateau needs to be on EVERY coeliacs bucket list.
It is very, very simple. Choice. And inclusion.
The main thing that I find difficult about travelling overseas to new cultures is that I have limitations on how much of the culture I can experience because, as a coeliac, I often cannot enjoy the local cuisine…or at least an uncensored version of it. Let me explain.
Spontaneity is not possible, nor is grabbing food from street vendors or popping into a cute café with hopes of being catered for, particularly without cross contamination. The GF translation cards can be great to help the language barrier (click here for access to downloadable language cards to use) but often even if the response is that ‘yes we cater GF’, it just actually means you will be served plain protein and salad or veggies, that has effectively had all of the cultural flavour removed, while your partner gets to enjoy the divine intricacies of new flavour sensations. It creates a sense of missing out, of not sharing in the joy that can come from those experiences.
So to be staying in a venue where the kitchen is run by a coeliac and the menu is almost 100% gluten free, every meal, 3 meals each day (if the picnic lunch option is chosen), and traditional French specialties like brioche are included, where the non-coeliac partners and spouses are eating the SAME food as us and LOVING it…it makes you feel as though you are completely immersed in the cultural experience, not just a by-stander as your companion gets to eat ‘the good stuff’ while you have to make do. It was THE BEST food experience of our 4 week trip, and my non coeliac husband agreed.
So, pretty big wrap. Well it doesn’t stop there. Apart from the food, and that by itself really would have been enough to make me 
want to plan my next return stay, the chateau itself is just gorgeous, and the surrounding towns so so pretty and full of history.
We stayed in the Lizonne Room, which had beautiful views over two sides of the rear of the property, overlooking the pool and patio and treed fields beyond. It was very spacious and fitted with quality fixtures, accessories and toiletries. All rooms are beautiful however, so you can’t go wrong, as are the other shared spaces of the chateau which guests have full access to. My favourite moments on site were the shared meal times with the other Full Board guests, relaxing on the patio with a drink for a quiet read, wandering the gardens, and indulging my love of photography capturing the beauty of the chateau, its décor and its gardens.
Further afield we borrowed the guest bikes and cycled through the town of Villars and along the country lanes, stopping to wander through some of the historic ruins we encountered or to capture the picturesque images in film. It really is pinch me stuff.
Using our hire car we visited the nearby towns of St Jean de Cole (voted most picturesque town in France and it is easy to see why), strolled the riverside markets and then picked in Perigueux, a stone and cobbled town with a fascinating history dating back to the 8th century with it’s Benedictine Abbey founded by Charlemagne, and ventured further out to the metropolitan town of Bordeaux, where an encounter with a medieval public toilet left quite the impression! Other sights in the area we didn’t have time to visit include the Grotte de Villars (prehistoric caves) and the local Chateau de Puygulheim.
As you can see, this chateau should simply be on every coeliacs travel bucket list. I have been planning my return ever since our first stay and am very excited that I am finally getting to indulge in some chateau wonder next year when I travel with my coeliac friend to celebrate a particular milestone birthday! SO excited.
The Chateau has two styles of accommodation packages, either just Bed & Breakfast, with the option of dinner on certain nights around the weekend & picnic lunches, or Full Board Themed Weeks which are all inclusive and are orientated around a theme for the week, such as Cooking & Markets, Photography, or Language & Culture. These operate only on certain weeks of the year so you have to plan well ahead. You can find out when by visiting their website here. Kevin and Bill, your two wonderful hosts, completely understand the frustrations faced by coeliacs when travelling as Bill, who doubles as head chef, is coeliac himself, and therefore the accommodation and restaurant experience has been specifically designed from the very beginning to provide a haven for gluten free travellers from around the world.
So, I hope you have been inspired to dream, and maybe one day get to experience the gluten free joy that awaits at Chateau de Villars for yourself!
If you would like to read more about my French travels you can in my Gluten Free Paris & 7 Must Do One Day Itineraries for Paris blogs, or my broader European adventures in Finding Gluten Free Joy in Europe, coming soon!
And I would LOVE to hear all about any gluten free joy you have encountered on your travels. Please leave a comment below, or email me details of your travels to admin@glutenfreejoy.com.au.
