Staying at a Chateau

Château de Drudas, a traditional manor house steeped in history and located in the countryside about a thirty-minute drive from Toulouse, opened its doors to guests in 2017. The first mention of a residence in the area dates back to 1150, explains the historical booklet available on the hotel’s website which gives readers the chance to acquaint themselves with the chateau’s unique atmospheres before their visit. The building underwent several transformations over the centuries, becoming the Rességuier family’s summer residence in a project that was completed in 1774. It was recently converted into a 4-star hotel immersed in the greenery of the French countryside.
Along with 23 guest rooms, Château de Drudas boasts a gourmet restaurant run by Michelin starred chef Éric Sampietro, a lounge bar, a cellar with selected wines, a spa and two function rooms.
The renovation project, which included structural work by architect Patrice Cagnasso and interior design by PH2B, had to take account of the fact that the chateau is a listed building, so they did everything possible to preserve its original features and stylistic characteristics. As a result, the hotel has a charming vintage feel. All of the painting, moulding, panelling and ironwork has been restored to the original style, while the old floors have been maintained and restored. The elegant reception welcomes guests with damask fabric curtains and neo-baroque style armchairs, while the dining room offers a sumptuous setting for the refined gourmet cuisine of the Salon du Potager. The breakfast room and bar has a more homely atmosphere and accommodates restored brick ovens used for cooking food grown in the gardens that surrounded the residence, hence the name Salon du Potager.
Further highlights include the garden, the brightly-lit staircase to the upper floors and the corridor leading to the guest rooms, which features a row of windows, decorations, fabrics and curtains. The suites, which occupy the former reception wing of the chateau, are furnished with restrained elegance with a mixture of contemporary solutions and replicas of Louis XV and Louis XVI styles. Each of them has its own colour and identity created by the interior architecture firm PH2B, which designed every detail with meticulous care and created an atmosphere of sober elegance in the bathrooms, where Deluxe marble-look porcelain slabs from Marca Corona have been used as the surface coverings. The almost 1,200 square metres of tiles create a sense of bright, harmonious continuity thanks to a composition of different sizes used for specific functions. Square tiles were chosen for the floors, rectangular slabs for the walls. The baths and showers have been faced using the same tile but with square and rhomboidal shapes that create elegant decorative motifs in an alternation of matt and gloss details.