Although not a standard option for guests staying at the Chateau Les Villettes, a dinner for your first or even your last night can be arranged.
Also possible is a dinner to mark a spacial occasion. This is where the creativity and the attention to detail of your hosts Sharan and David really shine through. An example of this is a recent Burns Night at the Chateau.
It began with a hand crafted invitation received prior to the event. This contained the standard invitation details along with a quote from the 16th century Scottish poet and lyricist, Robert Burns.
On arrival at the Chateau we were shown up to our allocated bedroom and offered a drink (hot or cold, alcohol or not) to wet our appetite before the champagne and canopés in the foyer at the allocated start time for the event. This was a nice touch especially as it was undertaken by someone in the requested black tie attire.
We were staying in the Louis XIV bedroom, one of the larger rooms available for guests with its large four-poster bed and silver, black and red styling. There was a bottle of water each next to the bed and tea and coffee making facilities in the room.
There were also welcome gifts in the form of complimentary toiletries in a petite chateau branded bag and some slippers, carefully coordinated to match the allocated towels.
The large bedroom and ensuite bathroom enabled us to dress for dinner in style.
The champagne reception was followed by an announcement that dinner was being served. As we made our way into the formal dining room I was struck by the level of effort our hosts had undertaken to make the evening a success.
Each guest was given a named place setting with a selection of artifacts; a specially printed menu for the evening, a booklet of Rabbie Burns poems and his words to Auld Lang Syne, and a scroll detailing the “Address to a Haggis”. Each of the items were adorned with the same tartan as the table and the invitations we had previously received. The level of coordination and care was impressive.
The dinner itself, of course, was also carefully planned and executed. With a starter of Haggis Clapshot with whiskey sauce. A main of slow cooked wild boar in a red wine jus. Followed by a choice of desert between Cranachan Sundae and Clootie Dumpling with Drambuie Custard. Of course both deserts were tested and found to be exquisite.
Following tradition we toasted the Haggis with a wee dram of Isle of Jura whiskey. The wine then flowed throughout dinner, which was completed by selection of cheeses, coffee, chocolates and a small liqueur. The latter of which was enjoyed in the very ornate guest lounge.
As well as the excellent food and drink, and of course the company, we were kept entertained in other ways. Throughout the evening the sound of traditional Scottish bagpipes could be heard but it never overpowered the conversation. Also a number of Burns quotes had been sourced, written on little cards and hung on a nearby light tree for the guests to select and recite.
Late in the evening we finally retired to our rooms and fell into a deep sleep to the sound of the owl hooting in the trees outside our window, and the words of Rabbie Burns in our minds.
“O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune …”
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