seven starry nights

(7 nights)

Date: 28 September - 5 October 2025

Vue d'Ensemble: Escape to Château de Gudanes for a 7-night fall experience, where relaxation and rejuvenation take centre stage. Set amidst the stunning French countryside, this retreat offers serene yoga sessions, peaceful meditation and gazing from the grass up at stars in the sky to help you reconnect with nature and yourself. Enjoy leisurely hikes through autumn-coloured landscapes, unwind with picnics, and savour sweet and savoury cooking classes. Explore nearby castles, visit farmer’s markets, and indulge in wine tastings. Immerse yourself in the tranquil spirit of fall and leave refreshed and inspired.

Inclusions: all dining (daily breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks), all accommodation (7 nights at Château de Gudanes), accommodation amenities (wifi, pool, tennis court and self service laundry) activities as per the itinerary and more. For further inclusions please see the section below.

Please kindly note that the cost of the experience excludes your flights to and from France/ Toulouse, personal spending money and travel insurance.

Itinerary: view below

Price: €4,950 per person

Note: Please kindly note that the precise cooking classes for this stay will depend upon the seasonal bounty at the markets during these dates. However, we warmly invite guests to share their preferences for classes so that we may also tailor the final itinerary to your requests.

ITINERARY

Sunday 28th September

We look forward to welcoming and meeting you in the morning in a central location in Toulouse (the coach car parking space on Rue Jean Jaurès) and travelling together to Château de Gudanes, where you shall spend the duration of your stay. Upon your arrival at Gudanes, the Château Team will be eagerly awaiting with local sparkling and sweet French treats!

The entourage of the four legged kind - including Bruce Baptiste Gudanes the French Bull Dog chien de guarde and Claude Monet Cat Gudanes - shall also be waiting to greet you.

Having settled in, the first day is a gentle one beginning with a late luncheon followed by a historical tour of the interiors. Later, château style aperitifs shall be held in the Grand Vestibule accompanied by a performance by a local string quartet. A formal enchanted garden welcome dinner is then hosted in the Salle à Manger.

Tuesday 30th September

Following a traditional French breakfast, our chef de cuisine and pastry chef invite you to join them in the Château cuisine for a series of sweet and savoury cooking classes, inspired by the original 18th Century Chateau cookbook of Gudanes and French dishes to prepare and add to your own repertoire when you return home. International and local chefs will present, guide and teach techniques while adding a little bit of panache as they share the history of classic French Cuisine and the dishes you are making.

Your stay is in the middle of a delightful fig, pear, leek, root vegetable and squash season, which shall guide the classes offered. After lunch, cooking classes shall continue in the afternoon followed by some time for repose before aperitifs begin.

In the early evening, aperitifs shall be served in the Renaissance kitchen followed by dinner en plein air accompanied by the music and merriment of a local jazz band…

Wednesday 1st October

After breakfast at Gudanes, we warmly invite you to enjoy a sound bowls meditation experience followed by a picturesque promenade through the little villages surrounding the Château.

Today, a casual servez-vous luncheon shall be set out in the Salon de Porcelaine.

In the afternoon, we welcome you to join a gentle yoga and breathing class.

We will end this peaceful day with an informal dinner in the Château kitchen.  Afterwards let’s continue to relax with a film soirée in the drawing room accompanied by traditional, French hot chocolate!

Thursday 2nd October

An early morning cooking class with our Château Boulanger shall be offered for those early risers who wish to join.

After breakfast, we will depart for a full morning brocanting adventure! A picnic, baguette luncheon shall be served on our way home at the infamous Devil’s Bridge.

For aperitifs, we invite you into the drawing room for a tasting of a selection of local, biodynamic wines followed by an elegant formal dinner and an evening of poetry and prose…

Friday 3rd September

Breakfast this morning shall be served on the front terrace.

Afterward, we invite you to join us on a guided hike through the Pyrenees mountains. Lunch will be served en route.

Later in the afternoon, following some time for rest and repose, we hope you shall join us for a restoration lecture and demonstration where we invite you to learn more about the work we have been undertaking to restore the original 18th Century frescoes in the Château’s dining room.

In the evening, aperitifs shall be accompanied by a demonstration by our chef de cuisine. Dinner shall follow in the Salle à Manger.

Saturday 4th September

Following breakfast, we shall depart to visit the farmer’s market in the village of Saint-Girons. Afterward, we shall take a short drive to visit the nearby village of Saint-Lizier where we will experience a guided visit of the medieval cloisters and authentic 18th Century pharmacy. Luncheon shall be a simple picnic in preparation for the evening’s feast.

Aperitifs shall be followed by dinner held in the Salon de Musique - an elegant banquet fit for queens and kings! Then a night of disco dancing!

Sunday 5th September

We bid you farewell nos amis… Depart from Gudanes to Toulouse at 11:00 AM. Our journey shall take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. We kindly ask that you organise your ongoing travels around this departure time. We are able to drop you at the Toulouse airport, train station or the coach car parking space on Rue Jean Jaurès.