Hotel Domaine d'Auriac, Carcassonne -South West France

This hotel is not just a very comfortable Relais et Châteaux hotel set near the walled town of Carcassonne, it is also located right off the main freeway (autoroute) that runs East-West from Narbonne to Bordeaux; thus a perfect place to stay for sightseeing or taking a break in your travels. But more than that, it has an 18 hole golf course right next door so it is a destination in itself.

Since the medieval city of Carcassonne is a "must see" when touring France and it is at all times bustling and rather hectic, Domaine D'Auriac is a wonderful and peaceful place to stay just a few kilometers outside the city. The Domaine itself is set in a Mediterranean park land filled with greenery, pathways, trees and mini-meadows. There are ponds with waterfalls, bowers and private places to sit and read or have tea. The air is filled with the sound of cheerful bird calls and Provencal fragrances. Perfect for a nights stay or a full vacation.

The warmly furnished restaurant serves meals that tend to look better to the eye that to the palette, but offer a wide selection of dishes from which to choose. It open onto a lovely outdoor terrace in the warm weather with a view of the pool and across to the golf course.

It is a comfortable and welcoming establishment with a couple of lolling labs (one golden and one black) to welcome you as you arrive. While not luxurious it exudes a warmth and inviting atmosphere with its old word main structure and its ivy shrouded more modern addition in the back. The original building dates back to Roman times with the vaulted rooms downstairs where you find the pool room, bar and conference center decorated with boar and deer heads.

There are 26 flower filled rooms with pretty fabrics and comfortable furnishings. The bathrooms are modern and spacious and many rooms and suites have balconies and even one with a small deck for sunbathing. In 2006, like Château de Mercuès just to the north, they equipped the rooms with "pod" espresso machines so you can have your coffee just the way you like it any time you want it.

The restaurant, located downstairs, was a slight disappointment, certainly not a bad meal but overall lacking originality and often taste. The starters were actually quite good, one with a baked cherry tomato in a basil sauce, the other a salad of bit sized bits of sea food, pasta and greens was very pleasant as was the "Rouget" that Linda enjoyed served with tomato cubes and roasted pine nuts. But it tended to go down hill from there, sadly. The stuffed "Fleur de Courgette" with scallops was not successful. Just too rich without taste distinction.

Peter's lamb dish was one of these trendy things that was more of a "Tapa" like platter with 5 different cuts of lamb from loin to brains, each prepared differently served with an eggplant and tomato "confit". While moist and tender, the tastes, such as they were, just did not come together in any kind of harmony. In different hands, it might have been a success. Things picked up a but, at least for Peter, when the pre-dessert arrived which was a rich, dark chocolate mouse with creme Anglaise, mint leaf and a wafer of white chocolate. But the main desserts did not live up to their descriptions. The layered raspberry , blue berry and strawberry millefeuille jacked up with a layer of whipped cream and topped with crème fraîche ball of sorbet looked fancy but delivered very little. Linda was served a concoction of paper thin pineapple (gone in one fork full) topped with a spun sugar bird cage. So much work for so little satisfaction.

While I love all the courses, I would much rather have one good dessert than a bunch of over drawn confections. We finished the meal with a mini-coctail of "agrumes" (citrus) which was cloyingly sweet and almost a syrup of grenadine. It was at least cold and refreshing. So a meal that was comme ci, comme ca. Not exactly bad but with enough high points to still make it worthwhile.

Domaine d’Auriac
Hotel and restaurant on a golf course
Route de Saint-Hilaire, B.P. 554
11009 Carcassonne (Aude)
Tel : +33 (0)4 68 25 72 22
Fax : +33 (0)4 68 47 35 54
e-mail: auriac@relaischateaux.com
Web: www.domaine-d-auriac.com

Owners(s) : Anne-Marie Rigaudis
General Manager(s) : Pierre and Marie-Hélène Rigaudis

Weekly closing:
Hotel/Restaurant: Sunday evening and Monday from February 11th to April 23rd and from October 7th to December 31st (except bank holidays) Restaurant: Monday noon, Tuesday noon and Wednesday noon from May 8th to September 30th (except bank holidays)
Annual closing:
From January 2nd to February 5th, from April 29th to May 7th and from November 11th to 19th

Getting There:

A61, Carcassonne-Ouest Exit : 4 km

For a link to the Relais & Châteaux Group of hotels and restaurants own site, click on the button left.