Page 319 - Lonely Planet France’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

Eating & Sleeping

spring in the courtyard adjoining this ivy-clad
Uzès 2 restaurant. River trout with preserved lemon,
Lozère lamb with potato gratin, vegetable tart
5 Le Tracteur Bistro €€ with Cévennes goat’s cheese, and red wine–
(%04 66 62 17 33; www.lucietestud.com/ marinated pears are among the daily-changing
letracteur; Argilliers; 3-course lunch/dinner dishes incorporating locally sourced produce.
menus €25/29.50; hkitchen noon-2pm Wines are also local and beers are artisanal.
Mon-Thu, noon-2pm & 7-10pm Fri, 7-10pm Sat) Live music often plays of an evening.
A converted warehouse in Argilliers, 8km
southeast of Uzès via the D981, is the setting
for this offbeat, and brilliant, dining destination Millau 7
– part wine shop, part art gallery, part deli, Regional Cuisine €€
part bistro with a tree-shaded courtyard. 5 La Mangeoire
Filled with battered furniture and abstract art, (%05 65 60 13 16; www.restaurantmillau.
it’s a fantastic space for dining on inspired com; 10 bd de la Capelle; 2-/3-course lunch
Mediterranean creations. Look out for the menus €16/23, 3-/4-/5-course dinner menus
namesake tractor outside. €24/33/49.50, mains €17-26; hnoon-2pm &
7-10pm Tue-Sun) Fronted by a shady pavement
4 Château d’Arpaillargues Hotel €€€ terrace strung with fairy lights and opening to
(%04 66 22 14 48; http://hp360.fr; rue du a romantic vaulted-stone dining room, Millau’s PYRENEES & SOUTHWEST FRANCE 28 PONT DU GARD TO VIADUC DE MILLAU
Château, Arpaillargues-et-Aureillac; d €160-315; best restaurant refines the rich flavours of the
paWs) Inside an 18th-century château region: wood-fire-grilled Trénels sheep-stomach
once occupied by Franz Liszt’s muse, Marie sausage with aligot (mashed potato and
de Flavigny, rooms at this regal residence melted sheep’s cheese); Aubrac beef ribs with
range from large to vast and come with period Roquefort sauce; spicy spit-roasted local hare;
features such as fireplaces, beams and lamb sweetbreads in parsley-butter sauce; and
flagstone floors. All are decorated in restrained chestnut sorbet in Armagnac.
country style. There’s a wonderful swimming Hotel €€
pool and an excellent restaurant. It’s 5km west 4 Château de Creissels
of Uzès off the D982. (%05 65 60 16 59; www.chateau-de-creissels.
com; place du Prieur, Creissels; d €86-120,
ste €132; hearly Mar-late Dec; paWs)
Florac 4 In Creissels, 2km southwest of Millau on the
D992, this castle’s rooms are split between the
5 Les Tables de la 12th-century tower (parquet floors, fireplaces,
Fontaine Traditional French €€ oil paintings) and modern wings (sleek showers,
(%04 66 65 21 73; www.tables-de-la-fontaine. stripped-wood floors, designer lamps; some
com; 31 rue du Therond; 2-/3-course menus have balconies overlooking the large garden).
€21/24; hnoon-2pm & 7-9.30pm Mon-Sat, Excellent regional cuisine is served in the
noon-2pm Sun Apr-Sep; c) Red-umbrella- restaurant’s brick-vaulted cellar and panoramic
shaded tables are scattered around a natural terrace. Breakfast costs €11.50; half-board is
€74 per person.

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