Le Chalet de la Forêt

Convenient stopover location for our journey south, situated just off the autoroute. Stayed in one of the lodges to the rear of the main hotel building. Friendly staff, basic but comfortable room with excellent shower. Secure parking through coded gates.

Another pleasant stay here on my way home from southern France. A pleasant welcome from the proprietress who speaks good English, comfortable air conditioned cabins and a decent selection at breakfast, though I wish the croissants and pain au chocolat were larger than the mini sized ones provided. It was a little cool this time for me to take advantage of the outdoor pool. The restaurant is well worth a visit (see my review of it).

Best avoided. Welcome to Les Tours de Fawlty. The chalets are not uncomfortable but basic and thin-walled. Beds are decent, pillows brick-like. The tour de force, however, happens in the restaurant. Having read decent reviews, we were rather looking forward to some simple but good French food. Worth mentioning at this stage that I lived in France for 14 years and speak French. To start, we were rather taken aback by the prices, which are high, particularly by Vierzon standards (we stayed in a competitor establishment last time, which was far more reasonable). We decided to push on, long day, late (8pm), tired. Charcuterie, not bad but at €16 for a slice of paté and a couple of slices of other cured meats, it should have been more generous and better. A skinny foie gras, disappointing. The main course of steak (€28) was tough and bland with no sear, and accompanied by a luke warm potato gratin and some other unidentifiables. That went back, prompting shock from the waitress, disbelief from front of house and utter outrage from the gesticulating breeze-block chef, all of whom took turns to challenge my - clearly ignorant - view of the culinary arts. But the beef is French, Monsieur, and everything is cooked in-house! I expected Manuel to burst in at any moment. Cheese, difficult to get wrong in France. And the tarte tatin, a saving grace from complete disaster. One might be tempted to think of this place as quirky or charmingly anachronistic but, basically, it is sub-par. Skip it if you can.

What a find! Just off the road south from Orleans making it an excellent overnight stop , We arrived hot and sticky after a long drive and were delighted with our little chalet in the grounds. It was cool and basically, but adequately equipped. A quick dip in the hotel pool and then an apero outside the chalet before supper. Very friendly staff and a good evening meal. We shall return.

Good breakfast

We had no intention of stopping overnight in Vierzon due to an indifferent experience at a different hotel, but here we were, hot and tired, early evening, so we avoided the previous hotel and came upon Le Chalet de la Foret. It was a strange welcome, but someone did reluctantly decide to get out of a chair to show us a room in a chalet in the garden. By the time we got back to reception, that room had been sold to someone else. So we took the last remaining room on the first floor of the main building. Spacious and airy, cooled and with a comfortable bed and a new modern shower room, it was also quiet in spite of overlooking the tree-covered restaurant terrace. Only one complaint - to leave open a window and heavy curtains to the cool night air meant enduring constantly flashing traffic lights. I have special dietary needs, and usually a good restaurant will provide someone knowledgeable who can suggest minor modifications to their menu to accommodate. Sadly, the waitress at Le Chalet wasn't interested, and suggested melon and ham followed by chicken salad. I found it odd to be served two identical copious plates of salad, one with sliced melon and ham, and the other with a pile of sliced, dry chicken breast in place of the melon. My husband's meal was delicious, he told me: potato and goat's cheese salad (which I could have eaten, but it wasn't suggested), followed by a very appetising longe de porc smothered in a beautiful creamy sauce.