La Lucarne aux Chouettes

Description:

• Remember Leslie Caron, at least on the late show? She was that French gamin who won our hearts by sexily pirouetting with Gene Kelly in An American in Paris in 1951 and later in 1958 portraying a Parisian courtesan-in-training in Gigi. She was more recently seen playing a widow who found passion in Chocolat (2000). In this village 46 kilometers (29 miles) north of Auxerre, she has taken some 17th-century buildings and turned them into a small inn. She also renovated an annex to the inn, which she designed herself, including her own stencil work. You dine festively in summer under the trees and in the midst of flowers lining the terrace, right on the river. That is followed with a good night's sleep under a canopy of antique beds collected by Leslie herself, who has a passion for antiques.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010