Five reasons to stay at Bed and Breakfasts during European travels. The story of our adventure in Glatigny.

I am extremely late with posts about my August Europe trip, but better late than never, isn't it? I assume you agreed *smile*.

While preparing for the trip and choosing hotels I accidentally found this website with bed and breakfast rentals in France. I was looking for something nice and cheap around Metz, France. Hotels within $80 range looked super boring and average, while my imagination drew pictures of beautiful village houses with gardens and flowers and romantic French atmosphere. En.europa-bed-breakfast.com became an absolute gem of my search!

For 58€ I booked a room at Domaine des Templiers, a charming farm house one mile away from the nearest village Glatigny. The farm house dates back to 13^th century and was bought and recently renovated by the current owners, Danielle and Michel. However, many features of the house remained authentic or were restored to resemble their original look.

I was intrigued and could not wait to get there and spend a night in the house built 8 centuries ago!

We were a bit behind of our schedule and started driving from Metz to Domaine des Templiers after the sunset. Should I mention that driving on a gravel road with no lights at night to some isolated farm in the middle of nowhere is a bit scary? Well, it was scary, but in my case curiosity always wins over the fear and I get excited rather than scared. My sister’s unusually round eyes, however, suggested she could easily live without such kind of excitement.

So we arrived. It was dark everywhere. The mysterious house was darker than night and my sister’s eyes just got a bit bigger. We parked the car and started looking for the door or some kind of an entrance. We knocked. The echo caught the sound and carried it far away until it became silent again. If I could see anything, I would most likely witness the biggest eyes my sister has ever had. The huge wooden door creaked and in the door way…

Ok, at that moment the scary movie plot came to its end, because in the doorway we saw a smiling Danielle, who immediately called me by name and hurried to show us the room with welcoming explanations of our short stay.

The house was an interesting mix of updated things and antique ones. The bathroom was newly updated, with all the necessary appliances, heater and a huge shower. On the other hand, all the furniture appeared to be really old, the walls in the corridors looked medieval, the stairs squeaked under each step and lots of curious details attracted attention. We had an antique kid’s bed in our room and a wardrobe with a mirror where I honestly expected to see a ghost at some point. I didn't; though I did bumped into it at night trying, in complete darkness, to find my way to the bathroom.

In the morning everything looked different. It was cozy and homey, not mysterious and scary movie like. We went downstairs for breakfast (included in the booking price) where Danielle’s husband, Michel, greeted us and showed the breakfast area. Everything was homemade and delicious – oven baked bread (the oven dates back to 1400), cheese, different jams, fruits from the garden.


While we were having breakfast, Michel was telling us the story of the house and his family. Michel has an awesome sense of humor and his poor English makes him even more adorable.

“We've been living in the house alone, since the kids moved out”, he said. I asked how many kids they had. “No, no, not many”, said Michel, “only seven”. We laughed.

My sister is vegan and raw, so she politely said no to any of Michel’s offers. He was persistent trying to understand why she didn’t want to try their food and what she could eat. After many attempts to explain what is vegan and raw diet (partly because it is hard to explain to an older person, partly because we could not find simple English words Michel would know), he finally got it and with a happy naughty smile exclaimed, “Oh, she is a rabbit!” Yes, we laughed, that is exactly right. He rushed into the garden and came back with a handful of plums, apples and pears for us to take along.

Then Michel gave us a tour of the house, the courtyard and the herbs garden, the ancient oven and the small chapel of St. Colette.

I asked Michel to take a picture with me and he rushed to the other part of the house calling, “Danielle, come here, come here!”  I felt like I visited my very close relatives whom I haven’t seen for a while. Thank you, Michel and Danielle, for your warm care!

Five reasons to stay at Bed and Breakfasts in Europe:

1. The price gives you much more value than hotels.
2. The owners treat you like their guest friends, not just customers.
3. Bed and Breakfasts in Europe can be anything from farm houses to medieval castles.
4. You get to meet interesting people and hear unique stories which makes your stay an adventure rather than a routine sleep over. 
5. Homemade free breakfast is always a big plus.