Holidays with kids often mean resetting and tweaking your expectations: staying in an apartment or villa can very much feel like same-drudgery-different-kitchen. Thoughts of late nights languishing in adorable town squares come punctuated with cries of boredom and demands to go inside and watch telly. Our usual self-catering flex while economical, had started to feel repetitive. But how to add some seven-year-old-friendly glamour into a South of France sojourn? Could a design-centric hotel offer something for us all? We – my daughter, husband and I – headed to the Luberon Valley to find out.
Capelongue is an easy and only slightly meandering drive up from Marseille: you’re in the luscious valleys and hills here, but the roads gently rise up around the peaks rather than serving up too many perilous cliff-edges.
The hotel - part of the Beaumier group (which is powered by the same private equity firm as The Pig portfolio) - sits on the edge of the village of Bonnieux which is around a fifteen minute walk away. The village itself is one of those chocolate box Provençal gems, set across three picturesque levels (prepare to climb a little – the back streets are enchanting but steep) which are dotted with art galleries, plenty of upscale decent restaurants and organic, local epicerie stops for all your honey, lavender and soap essentials. Friday morning hosts the traditional market, with interant Brocante and seasonal evening markets, too. One way to engage a seven year old with a keen eye for a bargain? Hand her ten euros and set her off at the stalls to work out which mini basket she can pick up – and charm the seller into popping an extra bookmark in for free too.
Capelongue is set across two sites on either side of one of those meandering hill roads. A main house sits elegantly on one, where there are rooms and suites as well as an all day café and bar offering drinks and snacks, and La Bastide it’s Michelin starred restaurant which is nestled in a discreetly shaded courtyard. The vibe is relaxed but stealth-y, decor is quietly understated, modern Provençal, dusty terracotta floors and walls give everything a honey-ish dappled glow. Inside there’s a library full of choicely chosen art-y tomes, my daughter found a cartoonish one of dogs in famous artworks which was a hit. An artist of the month is christened to display works downstairs adjacent to the café.
We stayed in a Junior Suite which was beautifully spacious, fitting a seating area as well as king bed and a sofa-bed-chair which converted into a plump and cosy resting spot for my daughter. The bathroom was enormous, with a stylish ceramic bath as well as shower and dual sinks. The thought of all sharing one space can feel claustrophobic but this managed to afford us all enough space to get on merrily.
There are two pools - while both are open to children, the circular one encased in lavender-stuffed gardens is easier for younger ones - and comes with an adjacent splash pool for the very wee. You can order snacks here from the bar; there are some kid-friendly options here, but not many so you might want to venture to the restaurant or out. However the fresh ice-cream cart which trundles out in the afternoons is worth lounging around for. Alongside there there's a hot tub, adjacent petanque pitch and to the delight of my daughter on Sunday morning, two donkeys appeared for rides around the estate. She was thrilled. There is a kids club for ages 4-16 (open every day from May to August and on weekends September to October 10am to 6pm) which offers storytelling, painting workshops and gardening adventures, all included in the rate. You can also borrow rackets for their badminton court.
Across on the other side of the property lies the Spa which offers Biologique Recherche treatments (I had an excellent and quite punchy massage which more than stripped out my back-stress) alongside a hammam and roman and cryogenic baths; as well as the second pool which is an impressive narrow stretch of water ideal for racking up the lengths in (and slightly less kid friendly in space and depth) which means you’ll largely be left in peace to swim. Here sits the La Bergerie restaurant, well-perched on the edge of the hill, affording a mesmerising sunset view. This is where buffet breakfast is servedL the usual croissant, piles of fresh fruit fare as well as eggs (I hate to think about how much butter and cream were in the scrambled eggs, but they were heaven) to order. For lunch and dinner choose from their wood-fired grill, with changing fish of the day (we ordered lobster which was delicious) as well as a classic menu enfant with fresh fired-chicken and very good frites.
The crowd here are glamorous and good looking but in a low-key linen sort of way: Hermès leather sliders and Goyard pool bags are almost uniform. Looks for dinner are heightened but not OTT, think ruffled sun dresses and modest heels. While it certainly gave off a pleasing Succession-vibe with riveting enough looking guests to ponder about, it’s not pretentious. We happily lowered the tone with our inflatable doughnut float (complete with sprinkles, not kidding) and at least didn’t see any raised eyebrows.
Over four days we broke out a little, the hilltop village of Gordes is a little touriste-heavy in August, but full of the prettiest nooks and crannies and traditional shops, exceptional views across the Luberon valley, and a very good creperie (one thing that marked down Capelongue for my daughter was the lack of crepes at breakfast – zut alors, etc). If you’re after a bigger town hit, Avignon is around an hour away, while Lacoste – with the Marquis de Sade’s Chateau – isn’t far. But mostly for four days we holed up, played rounds of Dobble, read books, perfected our handstands in the pool and sucked in the luxury surround, thrilled in the knowledge that no one had to clear up.
