AUBERGE LE GRILLON

We stayed one night at Le Grillon after booking a 2 night stay but sadly our experience did not match that of most previous travelers. On the positive, this is a good looking comfortable place with great attractions nearby. The negatives for us were that we were not made to feel welcome, and that the breakfast was frankly disappointing. Here are some details of what did not go to plan:
- when we arrived by car, we saw some people in the garden but assumed they might be guests so we did not want to disturb them. We politely went to the front door and rang the doorbell. We waited quite a long time, probably not more than 3 minutes, but certainly long enough to make us feel uncomfortable given that we'd arrived almost to the minute at the time we'd told them we'd be arriving in a message they acknowledged a few hours earlier. When Clemens finally opened the door, he was polite but certainly not warm nor welcoming. He mentioned that he'd been sitting in the garden, which left me wondering why they saw us arrive by car but did not feel the need to greet us, and indeed left us waiting for a rather long time in front of their door before bothering to let us in.
- I had a choice of accommodations, many quite a bit less expensive than this one, and chose this one based on the raving descriptions of a warm welcome. Some even said they were offered a welcome drink. We got no drink, and barely a welcome.
- The rooms are OK. I had a minor issue in that the toilet paper roll in my room was almost used up and the only spare roll they'd left had visibly had a water damage. I don't expect hotel-level service or a brand new roll waiting for me (indeed I don't like hotels and their wasteful practices) but finding a roll that had probably been showered on by a previous guest is rather off-putting.
- the breafkast was as plain as could be. Fairly poor quality croissants and baguettes, a supermarket-style slice of ham and cheese per person. The only personal "touch" was the pullet-eggs from their own chickens, presented in promising egg cups. I was looking forward to dipping my soldiers into these cute “œufs à la coque” but when I cracked them I realised that they'd been hardboiled which is rather disappointing. I cracked 2 eggs just to make sure it wasn't a one-off and they were both hardboiled.
- I saw Clemens for exactly 60 seconds at breakfast: he put the dishes on the table and disappeared immediately. No chit chat, no “how was your night?”, no friendly advice on what to do in the region. Again, we felt as if we had booked a room in the local Formula 1 rather than the much praised welcoming B&B we’d been expecting.
- I have not sampled the dinners other users have reported to be delicious so cannot comment on Jacqueline's much praised culinary skills, except for the fact that good cooking starts with knowing how to cook a soft-boiled egg and on that basis they did not pass the test.
- We never saw Jacqueline while we were there except for catching a glance of her in the garden when we weren't greeted upon arrival, and catching a glimpse of her in the kitchen when we decided to quit our stay after 1 night. Strange concept of a "warm welcome"
- Upon leaving, we were charged extra for staying only 1 night. They have a different tariff for those staying only 1 night, so they were fully within their rights to charge us extra, but given that I'd just told Clemens that we were leaving because we were disappointed and didn't feel welcome, I must say that I was rather puzzled at his decision to still charge us the higher rate. In particular, I was not going to write a negative review because I can only imagine how hard it is to always make guests feel welcome and sometimes there can be circumstances that make it hard to offer the level of warmth that people expect. However, having paid an extra €20 for the single night instead of receiving an apology for the lack of a warm welcome, I feel that I have now paid for the right to write this review. Traveler beware!

1 nacht in Le Grillon verbleven met z'n vieren. Hele hartelijke ontvangst in de mooie tuin. Na een lange reis een heerlijk koel biertje en glas wijn gedronken en voor de kinderen een glas fris. Genoten met de andere gasten van het heerlijke diner en daarna nog nagepraat met de eigenaren en andere gasten. Jammer dat we weer verder moesten de volgende dag, maar we komen zeker nog een keer terug! Le Grillon is echt een aanrader, je voelt je daar welkom en op je gemak.

Een pittoreske omgeving, gezellige tuin waar we overheerlijk gegeten hebben. Vriendelijke ontvangst en mensen. Je waant je even helemaal ergens anders. Mooie omgeving ook. De auberge is schoon, heeft alles wat het moet hebben. Het is ongelofelijk stil daar (uitgezonderd de weinige voertuigen die aan de voorkant voorbij kunnen razen). Het was een prima en heerlijke stop. Deze gaan we onthouden!

In 2015 waren we al eens geweest bij de vorige eigenaren. Jacqueline en Clemence hebben de b&b opgeknapt en wij hebben er van gemoten. Hoewel maar een avondje om doorreis naar de ferry in Toulon hadden we een mooie stop. Op het terras van de autorit uitrusten met een drankje en later smakelijk gegeten van het diner door Jacqueline bereid.|De familiekamer (4pers) is ideaal met een tussendeur die dicht kan.|Na het verzorgde ontbijt weer op pad.|Bedankt Jacqueline en Clemens! Tot ziens bij Le Grillon.|Géraud

In juli mochten wij weer verblijven in deze prachtige B en B van Clemens en Jaqueline, komen hier nu voor de vierde keer en het was voor ons thuiskomen. |Zijn nu twee nachtjes gebleven en hebben de mooie omgeving bezocht. Autun is een prachtige stad met vlak voor de stad een prachtig meer waar je heerlijk kunt vertoeven met het warme weer. We hebben fijne dagen gehad, met als hoogtepunt het heerlijke diner wat Jaqueline weer gemaakt heeft. In de ochtend stond er een goed ontbijt klaar, aan alles is gedacht. We komen zeker weer terug. |Het waren fijne dagen, het weer was goed dus heerlijk vertoeven in de tuin.|En het contact met de andere gasten voelde heel goed.|Niet te vergeten de heerlijke kamer, schoon en een goed bed.