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Luxury B & B started by Parisian couple at Luxé

#134 From 2008-04-04 to 2008-04-11

Michelle Clin has decorated the rooms with care and passion, choosing different themes for them
Reproduction interdite.

A Parisian couple have left life in the capital to set up an upmarket bed and breakfast business in the Charente. Michelle and Philippe Clin bought a house on the road to Aigre just outside Luxé in the north Charente and converted four rooms into guest bedrooms. The four rooms at La Belle Charmeuse are decorated according to different themes and each has been given its own name. These are Belle Epoque, Balcon fleuri, Haute couture and Côté rivière - the last one appropriate for a property that has 1.3 hectares of land and is close to the River Charente. The couple, who are both in their late 50s, have lived all their lives in Paris, where Michele worked for an estate agency and Philippe worked in an office sorting cheques. ‘We’d had enough of Paris life and wanted to run our own business, following the example of a former colleague who bought an hotel at Belle-Ile-en-Mer,’ says Philippe Clin. ‘We were looking for a project that would allow us to meet people,’ he adds. After plans to take over a hotel in Dordogne fell through, the pair found the house at Luxé and loved its charm and location. Michelle and Philippe Clin realise that they are part of that clichéd idea of Parisians who get fed up with city life and search for a new dream life in the French provinces. And they realise too that now - they are open for the first time - is when the real work begins. ‘Of course if the clients don’t turn up then we won’t just be standing here looking at each other,’ says Philippe Clin. ‘We are trying something different. But if it doesn’t work we are young enough to bounce back - and the house belongs to us anyway,’ he adds. He is also looking for other work so they don’t rely just on the B & B for income and they are also trying to attract guests all year round. ‘We know we can’t just rely on holidaymakers,’ he says. Meanwhile the couple have also got to discover their new department – they confess they know little about the Charente at the moment. ‘We’ll get some books and find out,’ they say.
Their website is at: www.labellecharmeuse.fr