Le Corps De Garde

The Île de Ré has plenty of lovely places to visit and the harbour at Saint Martin de Ré is among the best. So one must expect to pay a little more for a room on the quayside and within a few steps of some excellent restaurants. But the Corps de Garde is particularly special with an eclectic mix of furniture, paintings and artefacts combining to make a charming and uniquely stylish whole. We were given a lovely room overlooking the harbour with a luxuriously teak decked bathroom. The breakfasts, with freshly squeezed orange juice, broad selection of fresh fruit, pastries and delicious freshly baked bread fortified us for our exploration of the island. Our concern that late night revellers at the top end of the harbour might disturb our sleep was partially realised on the Saturday night but we soon returned to sleep. One must accept that in such a location there are bound to be others enjoying its charm and ambience. That we so enjoyed our visit was in large part because of the Corps de Garde. But it was not cheap and parking at 15 euros a day, and restaurants at a minimum of 30 euros per meal meant that our 48 hours on the island cost us around 800 euros for two. So it will be, for us, only a place for occasional return visits.