B&B Petit Chateau Les Tourelles

As a short escape from every day stress, my girlfriend and I were invited to join my parents for a 2 nights stay at le petit chateau les tourelles. Upon arrival, we entered the front gate by car and were warmly welcomed by our hosts, even though we arrived a few hours earlier than planned, and were immediately treated to some delicious coffee and pie in the wonderful garden that belongs to the domain. While we ate, our hosts quickly preparee both our rooms and by the time we finished our little pick-nick, we were invited to take a peek in the wine cellar and then went upstairs to unpack our luggage. Our room (Robuste) was very spatious and the decoration very much befitted the castle style of the bed & breakfast. The bed was very soft (maybe a bit too soft to my personal liking) and unfortunately the large bed was actually comprised of two seperate smaller beds. This may lead to unfortunate events during a couple's hanky panky moments such as your parner disappearing in the space between the beds but if your goal is to make your partner disappear in between the beds in order to sleep alone and peacefully then this is the ideal solution. The bathroom is rather small but functional with a good shower. What looked extremely out of place was the futuristic faucet made out of metal and plexiglass which could have come straight from some Star Trek ripoff. Really made little sense in combination with the rustic styling of the room. Another tip would be to provide actual cups instead of plastic disposable ones as it felt quite cheap to use those 2 days in a row. Not a big deal though. We unpacked and went straight to the garden for some relaxing and reading. The view on the Ourthe is nice but it kind of surprises me that previous reviews do not mention the busy road just across the river which, especially during high season, is very noisy. When sitting at the pool side at the back of the house the noise from the road is less penetrating, but unfortunately in that case nothing but a hedge seperates you from the screaming children in the adjacent camping area. Kind of beats the point of prohibiting children on the b&b premises. The owners of the b&b have a lovely garden chicken, who will most likely accompany you everywhere you go and some other animals as well like a pony. This is probably the reason why we had to leave our dog at home. So no kids and no dogs allowed but do prepare to suffer kids (sounds) and animals anyways in case you picked this b&b especially to avoid these. The pool is more than ok for the number of rooms but is unheated so only those that can take the cold can actually enjoy it. Generally I can imagine people stay here only during the nights and for breakfast and are out hiking or cycling during the day so they probably do not run into the same setbacks we felt we had as we mostly came to lie down and relax. So no children and no pets allowed and you should probably leave granny or that guy with the limp and crutches at home as well as you'll always have to conquer at least 20 stairs when going from the garden to your room if you are lucky enough to stay on the first floor. It was only just doable for my father who has difficulties walking due to his parkinson's disease, but its not a total disaster either, just something to keep in mind. There is a nice small living room available for the guests on the first floor as well but it only seats 4 people so I wonder where everyone goes during rainy days. Luckily the other guests stayed out late both nights so we had this space to our own. Breakfast is pretty decent but not special either. Expect eggs with bacon, bread, jam, cheese and meats. Theres orange juice, coffee and milk to drink and theres some cereal or a yoghurt for those who want. None of the modern hipster seeds and other nonsense available though. As the owners are dutch I would not have minded a good glass of karnemelk myself. They did not seem to be in the very best mood (or at least seemed a bit distant, as I have to say they were very nice and helpful when asked for something) so I decided not to ask. Conclusion: if everyone in your group is in good physical shape and you're looking for a b&b as base to explore the region, then this is the place for you. If you however want to spend your weekend reading and resting or when you are taking your senior citizen parents or grandparents, there are much better places around with less sound pollution. Personally I go to the Ardens to surround myself with nature and the silence that usually comes with it, not the sound of trucks and motorcycles, so for me that was a big setback. That and that wacky faucet from the 23rd century. What was that?