Chickens and an empty hotel

In 1993 my friend and I spent our annual holiday in the department of the Sarthe, in the small town of Loué. The area is known for its Label Rouge free range chickens and guinea fowl. When driving through the countryside, you can see huge 'flocks' of poultry moving like white-grey clouds against a background of lush green pastures. The birds are bred and fed according to very strict and preset rules. This makes their meat very juicy and full of flavour.

It was the end of May and for the first two nights of our stay the hotel was fully booked because of the annual 24 hours of Le Mans, a well-known car race. On the third night, however, everybody had checked out. As it was the restaurant's weekly 'jour de fermeture' the staff had the day off and even the proprietors decided to go to Paris for the evening. They were also going to spend the night there to drive back to Loué early the next morning. We were given the key to the frontdoor of the hotel so that we could go out if we wanted to. We decided to cater for ourselves and set up a table by the side of the swimming pool. We had a lovely time, enjoying a 'casse-croûte' dinner of baguette, some cheese, a green salad and a bottle of red wine.

The next morning everybody - owners and staff - were back, new guests checked in and hotel life returned to normal.

For one exquisite evening, however, we had been the proud proprietors of a four star hotel! We were stunned and flattered by the confidence shown by the owners. After all, we were almost strangers to them.

During our stay in Loué we made a day trip to the Loire. More about that in my next post.