My husband’s company had a 3 night conference at the Abbaye des Vaulx de Cernay in January of 2010. My husband travels a good bit for work, but he’s not allowed to go to France with out me, so I accompanied him and was so glad I did!
Even in January, when the pond was frozen and the gardens were mostly dormant, the Abbaye is beautiful and fascinating! I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to visit in the spring or fall months! The grounds are gorgeous!
Our room, 001, was huge and much more luxurious than I was expecting! A fire place, a huge bathtub, a sitting area, the tallest windows I’ve seen in a hotel, a huge big fluffy bed (not 2 twins pushed together like you find throughout Europe)! It was a wonderful quiet room!
The staff were very helpful, even when we couldn’t get the wifi to work in our room, they tried very hard to get it to work for us (although it never did). The bar staff was also very good at keeping the drinks full!
The food at the Abbaye was also very good, especially the soup!
The highlight of the Abbaye is the abbaye itself, the building, ruins and grounds! The wood fireplaces in the lounge were huge and smelled wonderful. The groin vaulted ceiling, the carved wood paneling on the walls, the original church organ, the place oozes charm and it’s past!
If I had one complaint, it was the free little booklets about the abbaye were only available in French, I would have loved to read it, but alas my French is not that good.
Also, the abbaye is in the middle of no where, so if you want to eat somewhere else, be prepared to drive for a good 15 minutes. There is nothing within walking distance (unless you consider a 1 hour walk walking distance).
