La Bonne Etape

La Bonne Etape

Cicadas start up somewhere in the garden of La Bonne Etape before the coffee arrives, and the smell of lavender drifts in from the hills around Chateau-Arnoux-Saint-Auban, halfway between Manosque and Sisteron. This has been a Relais & Chateaux address since 1967, and its restaurant has held a Michelin star since 1964, first under chef Jany Gleize, who returned home to the family kitchen in 1981, and now alongside his daughter Jane, who trained at Michel and Alain Roux's Waterside Inn and at Joel Robuchon's two-star restaurant in Monaco before coming back to write the menus with him. That continuity is rare among Relais & Chateaux addresses in Provence: most kitchens change hands more than once in sixty years; this one has passed, gently, from father to daughter. Eighteen rooms across three floors, each decorated differently with period furniture, keep the scale intimate rather than grand, so anyone chasing a big-resort spread of facilities or a lively bar scene should look elsewhere. What is here suits people who want to eat seriously and then do very little: an indoor and an outdoor pool, an English-style garden for a slow walk, a picnic area, hiking and fishing nearby, tennis and horse riding for those who want more than a lounger. Families are looked after with a playroom and babysitting, and pets are welcome. Green Key certification signals the sustainability practice is more than a badge on the door. Cookery lessons run alongside the Michelin menu for guests who want to take something of Jane and Jany's cooking home with them. Check-in from 4pm, check-out by 11am, free parking and Wi-Fi throughout. Book here for the table as much as the bed. Eighteen rooms sit above a restaurant that has held its Michelin star since 1964, run by chef Jany Gleize and his daughter Jane. Between Manosque and Sisteron, it pairs a garden and two pools with cookery lessons and horse riding, suited to a slow, food-led stay, not a big-facility break.