The first room they put us in reminded me of those Poconos hotels that had champagne bubble bathtubs, which even when I was a naive fob in the States I knew was the height of tackiness. It was the bridal suite that we got, they said, and I kept wondering how we became the recipients of such generosity. My partner who had gone to grab a drink, came to the room, had a snorty laugh and called reception to get a better room. It was starting to feel like our luxury staycation was headed for disaster and it surprised me that any Relais et Chateaux property would be like this. We ended up upgrading for a fee – wish I had taken pictures before we moved – and did get a more respectable room. This was the view from our second room – gotta love the nature.

The rest of the property was maintained well enough, not consistently but mostly, and with a lot of postcard pretty views intact. If lazing around was a championship hobby this would be the place for it. The weather though was off and on so horseback riding or nature biking was scratched off from the list. After an extended walk around the grounds – no walking through the scenic golf course unfortunately though I did feel like we had the whole estate all to ourselves – we had just enough time to read and relax before dinner.

The gorgeous website pictures did somehow unnecessarily heighten my expectations I have to say, so I would have been extremely disappointed if I had to pay completely out of pocket. Thankfully my company helped foot a chunk of the bill. In this case, once at the Kasteel is enough to fill sweet – and bittersweet – memories.