Chateau de Serrigny, Chablis-Serrigny, The Eastern Gatehouse

We had a truly magnificent time! The grounds are beautiful, the gate house was comfortable, clean, well stocked and inviting. Lesley and Paul and their sons are the consumate hosts - extremely helpful, friendly,honoring of your needs yet not intrusive, and delightful!

From the beginning of the inquiry and booking process, right through the length of our stay, Lesley went out of her way to answer questions and provide helpful tips on places to see and restaurants to eat at. We found a lovely welcome bottle in our fridge on arrival and she'd even offered to buy some groceries for us as we were arriving on a Public Holiday. Lesley was a friendly and very helpful host.

The Eastern Gatehouse is an old stone cottage that's been restored and provides two bedrooms and a shared bathroom. It was big enough for the three of us (a couple plus adult daughter), and would be suitable for a family with children (there were both a double and a single bed in the second bedroom). Possibly a little too cosy for two couples, depending on how well they knew each other! Pretty much everything you need for a self-contained stay was provided, with quite a few little extras here and there.

Serrigny is a tiny village which is pretty isolated, making it ideal for a relaxing getaway. We enjoyed sitting outside dreaming about the chateau (the gatehouse is on the same property as the chateau) and its potential, and the evenings were very quiet as you'd expect. There are no shops at all in the village itself (although a baker's van arrives each morning around 10:00) so you need to head about 5km to the nearest town (Tonnerre) for your shopping (and restaurants). Chablis is a little further away in the other direction, and offers a good selection of excellent restaurants (ask Lesley!). If you're there on a Sunday, the markets in Chablis are very much worth going to.

The flip side of the seclusion is communication, and there's almost no mobile phone reception (which is a mixed blessing of course). The other point is that, while there's free WiFi, it doesn't work reliably in all parts of the house (at the moment): you may need to sit outside for reliable signal. That's OK in summer, but could be a bit of a challenge in winter. [this is the reason I'm rating the property 4/5 instead of 5/5 by the way, so if WiFi isn't important to you, you can consider it 5/5]

We spent our days visiting the delightful countryside (it is a winemaking region, after all). Places to put on your list include: Chablis, Auxerre, Vézelay, Noyers, the Canal de Bourgogne (cycling), Pontigny, to mention a few.

Thank you Lesley for a warm welcome and a lovely relaxing stay at the Eastern Gatehouse. The house is perfect for a young family and our kids (aged 3 and 2) absolutely loved roaming free in the extensive grounds and especially the play area with swings, trampoline, slide & toy castle! It was difficult to tear them away! As for the parents, we enjoyed exploring Chablis and the wine-tasting you organised with Raphael in the village was a really nice introduction. Definitely recommended for a family break just a couple of hours from Paris.

Our only slight critique would be that WiFi is not available in the house, only in parts of the garden, and as there is little phone reception in the village that meant we truly were cut off from communications. But this wasn't necessarily a bad thing as it only enhanced the feeling of getting away from it all ;-)

I have just spent a lovely few days at the Eastern Gatehouse with my wife and two young children. Lesley was a super host, and the chilled bottle of white wine which greeted us on arrival was most welcome! She also arranged a wine tasting with local producer Raphael, which was very pleasant. His Bourgogne Tonnere was excellent. The gite was comfortable, and the kids enjoyed playing in the park and play area. They also enjoyed visiting the farm on the other side of the village. Serrigny is a great base to explore northern Burgundy, and only 2 hours from Paris it is very accessible. Recommended.

We spent a couple of days in Serrigny in the Eastern Gatehouse at the end of August and it was just perfect! Our hosts, Lesley and Paul, did everything to make our stay more than just a stopover on our way to Brittany. We enjoyed our breakfasts in the park with a view of the castle and brioches from the local bakery van stopping right in front of the park, our trips to Vézélay, Auxerre, Chablis, the Burgundy Canal, and last but not least the wine tasting at Raphael's. The kids - and our two dogs - loved the park.

We hope to come back this year!