Located just 12 km to the north of Roanne, the beautiful 18th century Château de la Motte, with its towers and 6-hectare park full of rare shrubs and trees, was transformed into a delightful guest house in the early years of the 21st century by its new owners Anny and Alain Froumajou. The Renaissance-style building is listed in the Michelin Guide, and is the ideal venue for clients needing to arrange small board-type meetings where they can work on new strategies or “brainstorm” with their senior management.
The Froumajou have made a conscious decision to focus on the seminar market, offering three function rooms (20-60 m2) with capacity for groups of up to 50 people, making the venue ideal for study days as well as for residential meetings. The château itself only has six elegantly-appointed bedrooms, but it works in partnership with two hotels nearby, the Relais de Roanne and the Relais de l’Abbaye, when it needs more accommodation.
“At the moment, seminars represent about 30-35% of our business,” confirms Alain Froumajou. “Most of our clients are companies based in the western Lyon area, as we’re about 1 ¼ hour away from Lyon, the Roannais basin and Clermont. We handle about 20 seminars a year, mostly between October and June. To supplement their meeting programmes, companies can do archery or orienteering in our grounds or have a go at the tree-top trail in the Lespinasse forest, mountain biking, carriage driving round an obstacle course at the Bois Rond farm in Noailly as well as hot-air ballooning”.
Château de la Motte also boasts other facilities including a pond, a swimming pool, a sauna and a “table d’hôtes” where guests can enjoy locally-grown produce and Côte Roannaise wines. In the evening they may opt for relaxation treatments, or tastings in the company of experts: cellar-owner Jean-Pierre Auzel, from Roanne, for champagne and whisky, and Laetitia Chaucesse, from the Domaine de la Paroisse, for wine.
Château de la Motte is definitely worth a visit. A study day is invoiced at between 50 and 75 € depending on the choice of lunch menu. For a residential seminar, including accommodation, lunch, dinner and breakfast, the cost is 150 € per person. Both options include room hire. Tastings work out at 15-20 € per participant.
Château de la Motte, in Noailly (Loire)
Tel.: 00 33 (0)4 77 66 64 60
