Dinner in the Garden of Eden… sorry, L’Andana, Tuscany

In summer Europe is at its best, and it’s time to visit destinations made justifiably famous over the centuries. Here, we visit a classical country estate hotel in Tuscany, L’Andana a wonderful and authentic luxury hotel in the Cotswolds, The Fish, and a traditional luxury hotel in Vienna, The Harmonie

L’Andana, Tuscany review

Tuscany is a place of justifiable legend among discerning and well-heeled travellers. But which Tuscany? Everyone knows Florence and the hill country around Sienna. But Tuscany is a big place, relatively speaking, and if you drive a couple of hours south, through beautiful scenery, you come across L’Andana.

The Tuscan countryside view of L’Andana

Nestled amid olive groves underneath a forested hillside, it is just a couple of miles from the Mediterranean Sea but away from the bustle of the coast. You can see mountains, sea and sky and as you make your way up the long, cypress-lined drive.

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L’Andana is a grand-manor-house-turned-hotel in the Tuscan tradition. This area feels more discreet, less busy than the countryside of central Tuscany. Walk through the hotel’s grand hall to the outdoor pool and it feels more as if you are in a private home – it never felt crowded, and the servers by the pool feel more like your personal butlers.

It feels as if you are in a private home as you sit by the outdoor pool at L’Andana

There is another pool across the gardens and near the forest with views leading down to the sea: this is officially the children’s pool but during our stay it was empty and delightful after teatime. It’s the kind of place you go to and then give up your plans to tour the surrounding area or go for dinner, just deciding to relax until sunset.

The cuisine at L’Andana is celebrated, and we enjoyed a highly memorable dinner in the gardens surrounded by fountains, flowers and trees; perhaps just as memorable was the breakfast in the same garden, where you see the birds, insects and bees in full glorious activity. You are are in the middle of nature. And unlike the rest of Tuscany, there isn’t a cluster of other hotels on the horizon or busy roads nearby – it’s just you.

The comfortable reception area at L’Andana

Our room was suitably memorable, with a vaulted high ceiling and a view across to the hills in the forest. The public areas at L’Andana are so relaxing it seems only natural to have a Negroni at the piano bar. There are many activities including wine tasting, cooking classes and even golf – and the hotel will book you a place at one of the beach clubs in nearby Castiglione della Pescaia, where the beach is long and sandy and the water is shallow and clear.

Altogether, something of an undiscovered gem.

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The Fish, a luxury hotel in the Cotswolds overlooking the Severn River valley

The Fish, Cotswolds review

There are many hotels which oversell themselves. You’ve been to them: wide angle images of rooms disappointingly small, images of grand façades that conveniently ignore the hideous 1990s office block jarring into the view in real life; country hotels that look grand but are poky with views of nothing much.

The Hideaway, one of many unique rooms at The Fish

The Fish is a very rare example of the opposite: a hotel even more interesting than it what it seems to be on its website.

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There’s nothing wrong with the website, mind. It’s just that the very concept and execution are discreet. It is built into the woodland Western escarpment of the Cotswolds, the celebrated uplands halfway between London and Wales where plutocrats and aristocrats rub shoulders. Here, in one of the most distant and remote corners is an area of many thousand-year-old forests and ecosystems, tumbling down a steep slope that marks the end of the Cotswold uplands and drops into the deep Severn River valley. The mountains of Wales loom in the distance.

A suite at The Fish, within the Farncombe Estate

You approach The Fish from a country lane at the top of the Cotswolds, first entering the grounds of the Farncombe Estate that encompasses it. The driveway winds through woods, past a couple of buildings, and down the sloped escarpment, views all around. You park at a low-rise wooden building, almost lost in the forest; this is where the reception area, bar and restaurant are located. They are stunning inside, modern without being jarring, with a Scandinavian-forest-feel and extensive outdoor terraces that blend woodland with views.

Our room was in another building, a short walk through the woods (you can also drive and park outside) and it had uninterrupted views across the fields of the Severn Valley. In the evenings, we walked to the bar and restaurant (where breakfast was also served) and enjoyed some quite magnificent country food – excellent fish and local herbs and vegetables. Very pure flavours and highest quality ingredients. We also appreciated the efforts to employ local staff: it gives The Fish a feeling of authenticity.

The Treehouse: The Fish is a collection of quirky hotel rooms, treehouses and huts, all nestled in the 500-acre hillside

If you feel like escaping from The Fish, you have an array of Cotswolds walks all around, and these are among the best country walks in the world: along hillsides, through glades and woods, meadows and hilltops. There are also the historical villages to visit: you can walk to the crazily pretty Broadway in 20 minutes, and others like Chipping Camden and The Slaughters are a short drive (or long hike).

The Fish itself also offers an array of activities and recreations, from clay shooting to axe throwing and falconry. But our favourite was chilling at sunset – which it faces – with a Picante on the bar terrace.

thefishhotel.co.uk

The Hotel Harmonie in Vienna: ‘a centre of wealth, craft, science, culture, literature and commerce’

The Harmonie, Vienna review

Vienna is a city of stories. Every square, every street, every building speaks to you of the artistic, cultural and imperial history of this capital without an empire. It was only just over 100 years ago after all that this city ruled Europe’s greatest empire, the Austro-Hungarian domaine that stretched from Germany to Italy and the Balkans.

Read more: Il Salviatino, Savoy Florence and Portrait Florence review

Not the biggest in size, but a centre of wealth, craft, science, culture, literature and commerce that dominated what was one of the most powerful continents in the world for centuries.

‘The Hotel Harmonie has a recognisable central European vibe as soon as you stroll in’

Vienna was virtually untouched by bombing in the Second World War and so is preserved perfect and unscathed, its stories seeping from its walls and the palaces almost alive.

In a city like this, we don’t always want to stay in a grand palace of a hotel, removed from the action. We want to feel part of the fabric of the story, joined with the history, living perhaps like the powerful Hapsburgs just over a century ago.

And it’s for this reason that we chose the Hotel Harmonie. It sits on a quiet street on the edge of Vienna’s historic central First District. You can walk to the great museums, the cathedral and squares through within minutes.

The Hotel Harmonie bistro: ‘everything beautifully laid out, homely, correct, with a sense of place’

A series of townhouses, or at least feeling like one, the Hotel Harmonie has a recognisable central European vibe as soon as you stroll in. It is immaculate, there is marble, and everything works beautifully but you also expect to see poets and spies in the corners of the bijou lobby area.

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Our room meanwhile was exactly what you might expect if you were staying with your distant cousin, the dowager princess of Hohenzollern zu Wolkenstein: everything beautifully laid out, homely, correct, with a sense of place.

Breakfast at the Hotel Harmonie bistrot

The staff were polite, considered, and slightly reserved, just as you would expect and want the Viennese to be. A fulsome welcome is fine in Minneapolis: this is Mitteleuropa.

Meanwhile, our favourite part was the little bar just off the lobby, where newspapers – yes, real newspapers – on sticks were provided alongside coffee table books and a cultured atmosphere.

A place to come back to, for hundreds of years.

LUX travelled to and from Vienna by the most environmentally-friendly means possible, train. Our journey the length of Austria took us past the Wienerwald forest with its castles, along the deep Danube valley, the orchards near Linz, and the rising Alps as we approached the Tyrol, where the tracks were surrounded by dramatic snowy peaks, rising up to more than 1200m altitude, before dropping into the forests near Bregenz. All courtesy of the Austrian tourism board on Austria.info

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The grand exterior of Il Salviatino, Firenze

Florence has never been more compelling for its mix of old and new art – and old and new people – with a buzzing youth scene complementing the wonders of the Uffizi and its churches and squares. And there has never been a better selection of places to stay, as we discover at Il Salviatino, on a hill outside the city, and the Savoy and Portrait, in the city’s heart

Il Salviatino, Florence review

Il Salviatino is special. Now, you could say that about a lot of luxury hotels in Tuscany, and you would be right.

But in the case of Il Salviatino, it’s special in a way nowhere else is.

The Italian gardens of Il Salviatino, which look out onto the Duomo, seen in the distance

To get there from the city centre of Florence, we drove past the Duomo and famous palaces, out for five minutes through a suburb, onto a winding hillside road lined by cypresses and suddenly – only fifteen minutes after leaving the hectic centre of Florence – a botanical-historical paradise emerged.

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Like everywhere special in Tuscany, Il Salviatino is a visual feast – but that’s not the first thing you notice. Instead, it was the smell of jasmine, mint, rosemary: a thousand herbs and flowers wafting through the air as if they had been beautifully packaged and released – except they hadn’t, we were outdoors and this is how the gardens, planted by owner Alessandro Rovati, smell.

The entrance hallway to Il Salviatino: 17th-century Italian architecture refreshed thoughtfully by books, furnishings, and art added through time

These aren’t the formal and slightly forbidding gardens, inspired by the originals at Tivoli, that you often find in an Italian hotel. The foliage is as wild and beautiful as its scent.

Wander around the front of the palazzo and an Italian garden drops away into a quite astonishing view of Florence set out before you. The Duomo looks near enough to touch – and in fact it is only a couple of miles away in a straight line. On the hillside it feels like you’re lined up with the top of its roof.

Beyond rise the forest and vineyarded hills of Chianti, undulating into an eternal distance.

The bathroom of the Duomo View suite in Il Salviatino

The house itself – it seems wrong to call it a hotel – is a 17th century masterpiece, a work of art so gently and thoughtfully refreshed with books, furnishings and art by the owner, but always retaining the feel of being in a private home or club.

Our suite was down below the Italian garden, comprising of a bedroom and bathroom that led into a conservatory which in turn led to a terrace.

A few minutes crunching down the gravel through the gardens (lizards by day, fireflies by night) led to the swimming pool area. One side is on a shelf offering a view of nothing but trees and gardens, despite the fact that driven in Italian style you could get to the Ponte Vecchio in around six minutes on a traffic free early morning.

Giacomo al Salviatino, bringing one of Milan’s most famous restaurants to the Florentine hotel

On the terrace by the main building, the view of Florence and Tuscany changes colour and character hour by hour. This is where you have dinner, created by one of Milan’s most famous restaurants, Giacomo, while gazing at this view and choosing from a fascinatingly curated list of mainly Italian wines.

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If it gets chilly, or too hot, you can repair to the bar and enjoy the room inside, feeling even more that you are part of a house party.

The beautifully curated bathroom of the Greenhouse suite at Il Salviatino

Curation is everywhere – the small but elegant spa offers treatments with Augustinus Bader and local Santa Maria Novella products.

It’s a place where your pulse rate decreases the moment you walk out and into the scented air and continues at that level throughout. Both Tuscan country and Florentine, it is special like nowhere else.

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The Hotel Savoy, located in the very heart of Florence

The Savoy, Florence review

If location is everything, then staying at the Savoy in Florence gives you everything you may ever need. On the Piazza della Repubblica in the heart of the city, our room at the back of the hotel had a little balcony looking out directly to the cathedral and its famous square.

If you are at the front of the hotel, you are facing the famous pedestrianised Piazza della Repubblica and are directly across from the city’s celebrated Palazzo Strozzi museum. A good cricketer could throw a ball and hit Michelangelo’s David a block away. (Actually, the David in front of the Uffizi is a replica, but let’s not spoil the dream here).

The Presidential Suite at Hotel Savoy, looking directly onto the Duomo

Our favourite part of the Savoy was breakfast. You are taken outside to a little terrace cleverly carved out of the square, where proper old-fashioned friendly Italian-British service (it’s part of the Rocco Forte hotel group) melds with hearty and deliciously cooked dishes.

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You feel you could sit and sip coffee for the rest of the day, watching Florence and its tourists go by. Wander in and pick a few more berries or slices of salmon or roast turkey from the buffet, pour yourself another glass of prosecco, and repeat.

Bar Artemisia at Hotel Savoy, inspired by the great Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi

The decor and design of the public areas and the rooms is as lavish and LUX as you would expect a hotel – belonging to Rocco Forte and lovingly put together by his sister Olga Polizzi – to be. Bathrooms are marble, beds are generous and high-quality, service is impeccable. And as for the location: it’s a sanctuary in the heart of the historical maze of the city centre.

This is Florence at its best, created by someone whose dream was always to make the best hotels in his family’s original homeland, their adopted homeland of Britain, and beyond.

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An evening view of the Portrait Hotel, Florence, along the Arno riverbank and just next to the Ponte Vecchio

Portrait Hotel, Florence review

Is there a better city view to wake up to than drawing the curtains of your big picture window, and seeing the Ponte Vecchio and Arno riverbank in front of you? We don’t think so, and that’s how we were greeted every day doing our stay at the Portrait, the super-chic luxury hotel from the Ferragamo family.

The view of the Ponte Vecchio from Caffe dell’Oro, the hotel’s riverside restaurant

Arriving gives a good taster of the experience to come. Your taxi ambles along the Lungarno, the embankment of Florence’s river, coming to a halt just metres away from the famous bridge. We celebrated our arrival with lunch and a glass or two of delicious Franciacorta at the Caffe dell’Oro, the hotel’s restaurant whose tables line the river back.

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Service was contemporary Italian – fashionable and delightful. We particularly enjoyed the Bao al Vapore, steamed bao buns with chilli pork, which somehow went very nicely with the Franciacorta.

The slick and comfortable lobby of Portrait Firenze

The lobby area is like a curiosity cabinet of contemporary design; a place you could feel you could sleep in quite happily if the rooms weren’t so nice. Rooms in the heart of Florence are never huge, but our suite had two separate rooms, each with the same view of the river and the city across from it. Walls were light cream, furniture 20^th-century-modern style also finished off in crema (as a Ferrari owner would say). Everything was just so, showcasing contemporary Florence inside and Asian Florence through the window. There was also a compellingly readable selection of excellent coffee table books in the room.

A suite at Portrait Firenze, each with a view of the river and city

There was one challenge: the dilemma of whether to have breakfast in your room, with its silent view of the bridge and the city, or outside on the terrace, which offered the view in the sunshine and buzz. Either way, you really can’t go wrong, and you are left with a feeling that you have enjoyed the lavish hospitality of Florence’s most celebrated fashionable family whilst staying in its coolest spot.

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Bas van Kranen, Executive Chef of Restaurant Flore at Hotel De L’Europe in Amsterdam

Dutch chef Bas van Kranen has redefined fine dining throughout his career at restaurants Bord’Eau and Flore, introducing plant-forward menus with a focus on sustainability – and earning two Michelin stars along the way. In a conversation with LUX, he tells us about his beginnings as a chef, his inspirations in Dutch agriculture, and the future of micro-seasonality in fine dining

LUX: You started your career quite young at 14, after a dinner at a Two-Michelin-Star restaurant. What was the name of the restaurant and the food that night, and how did it spark your passion?

Bas van Kranen: I actually didn’t eat there. I started working behind the dishwasher. The restaurant was Da Vinci in Maasbracht, just two streets away from where I grew up. At 14, I knocked on the door and asked Margot Reuten if I could get a job in the dish pit, because I wanted to become a chef.

The outside of Restaurant Flore, where sustainability meets fine dining in a serene, Michelin-starred setting.

From that moment, I was completely absorbed by the rhythm, the ambition, the quality of the food, and the service. It was like entering a different world. I had been fascinated by food since I was six. There are so many photos of me smiling with something edible in my hands. Working at Da Vinci set the tone for everything that came after. It showed me what was possible when passion meets discipline, and it gave my ambition a clear shape: this is what I wanted to do with my life.

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LUX: And now you’re known as one of the youngest chefs in the Netherlands. What would 14-year-old-you say if he saw where you are now?

BVK: He would probably be amazed. But I think he’d also recognise the drive. I consider myself lucky to have a mindset that doesn’t settle. The moment a goal is reached, I’m already looking forward to the next. What matters to me today is the idea that anything you choose to do, you should do it as well as you possibly can. Whether it’s a simple salad, a sandwich, or a bunch of flowers on a table. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

The beautifully curated interior of Flore

LUX: Flore is reopening and many are excited – but what inspired the name? Can you define the meaning behind ‘Flore’?

BVK: The name ‘Flore’, derived from flora, meaning ‘blossoming’, encapsulates the essence of our culinary philosophy. It represents the plant kingdom and the unfolding of flavours in each dish. The name speaks directly to our vegetable-forward approach and our connection to the natural rhythms of Dutch agriculture. Just like plants flourish under the right conditions, we believe flavours should be allowed to express themselves at their natural peak.

Read more: Mont Cervin Palace and Beausite, Zermatt review

LUX: With the reopening, the interior and design have also been renovated. What elements and inspirations shaped the new space?

‘It’s all about harmony between the food, the space, and the story we’re telling’ – Bas van Kranen

BVK: We wanted the design to reflect the same values as our food: rooted, natural, and intentional. Together with Reiters-Wings Studio, we used carbon-negative materials inspired by traditional building methods, for example, lime and hemp plastered walls. The ceiling undulates like the Amstel River, bringing a sense of movement and locality. The furniture is reclaimed wood, and we designed the ‘Flore Chair’ in collaboration with Tim Reiters to complement our vision. It’s all about harmony between the food, the space, and the story we’re telling.

LUX: The phrase ‘conscious fine dining’ – how would you define that, and how does it live at Flore?

BVK: Conscious fine dining means making the best possible decisions at every step, not just in cooking, but in sourcing, design, and service. At Flore, we work with hyperlocal ingredients, maintain a deep fermentation program to minimise waste, and collaborate closely with biodynamic growers across the Netherlands. We aim to prove that true luxury isn’t about imported rarity but about care, quality and proximity. Conscious fine dining shifts the focus from status to substance, from exclusivity to integrity.

Culinary innovation is at the heart of Flore, seen in this transformed risotto dish

LUX: Your travels have influenced your cuisine – how do you translate those inspirations into your dishes?

BVK: Travel for me is about learning techniques and principles, not copying flavours. Spending time with different cultures around the globe has taught me a huge amount about balance, fermentation, restraint and seasonality. Japanese cooking in particular has influenced how we draw out deep flavour with minimal intervention. We don’t recreate dishes from other cultures. Instead, we use those techniques to express Dutch ingredients in a new and more meaningful way.

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LUX: What country has been your favourite to visit, and what dish did it inspire?

BVK: Japan has made the deepest impression. The culture is rooted in respect, technique, and nature. It’s incredibly refined. Right now I’m studying how to age and refine seaweeds, the way Japanese chefs have been working with kombu for hundreds of years. It’s like a new language of flavour. That’s the beauty of it. It never ends.

No dish is repeated at Flore; each dish is made using local and seasonal produce

LUX: Flore was named ‘Vegetable Restaurant of the Year’ in 2024 and holds two Michelin stars and a Green Star. What did those awards mean to you, and are there any other recognitions you aspire to?

BVK: Receiving two Michelin stars and a Green Star within eight months of reopening was incredibly affirming. The ‘Vegetable Restaurant of the Year’ recognition meant a lot, not just for us, but for the shift it represents. It shows that a plant-led menu can lead the conversation in fine dining. We’re not chasing more titles. What we want is to help redefine what excellence means in our field, to set a new standard that includes responsibility alongside creativity.

LUX: Why did you decide that no dish would be repeated, and that the menu would evolve constantly throughout the season?

‘The space, the interaction, the materials, the sound – everything is designed to support what’s happening on the plate’ – Bas van Kranen

BVK: It’s a direct response to our commitment to Dutch micro-seasonality. We work closely with nature and producers, adjusting our menu every week based on shifts in weather, soil and harvest. This keeps us creatively alive and allows us to present each ingredient at its absolute peak. It also invites guests into a specific moment, one that can’t be repeated. That kind of authenticity is powerful.

LUX: What changes do you see in the dining habits of your guests?

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BVK: There’s a noticeable shift towards conscious dining. Guests are more curious, more engaged. They want to know where things come from, how they’re made, and what they represent. There’s also more openness toward plant-based options and non-alcoholic pairings. We’re seeing a move away from the old markers of luxury, toward something more thoughtful and personal. That’s very encouraging.

LUX: Is there a generational difference in what people like to eat?

Some seasonal produce used to create the ever-changing menu at Flore

BVK: Younger guests are often more fluent in sustainability. They’re excited by fermentation, by unusual vegetables, by zero-waste thinking. But across generations, we see a growing interest in real food stories and a willingness to step away from what’s expected. Older guests sometimes have deeper emotional connections to traditional ingredients, which leads to interesting conversations. What unites everyone is a deeper awareness of the impact of food.

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LUX: How important is the overall experience beyond what’s on the plate?

BVK: They’re inseparable. The space, the interaction, the materials, the sound – everything is designed to support what’s happening on the plate. We want guests to feel a shift when they walk through the door, a kind of transition into a more grounded, present moment. Conscious fine dining is about mindfulness as much as taste. When all elements are in alignment, the experience becomes something you carry with you.

The entrance to Flore: ‘We want guests to feel a shift when they walk through the door, a kind of transition into a more grounded, present moment’ – Bas van Kranen

LUX: Who are your culinary heroes?

BVK: Dan Barber, for his work on agriculture and flavour. René Redzepi, for changing the way we think about fine dining. Yoshihiro Narisawa, for translating nature so elegantly onto the plate. And Jonnie Boer, who has been putting Dutch ingredients like magnolia, wild duck, crayfish and pikeperch on the map for over 25 years. I have great respect for that.

LUX: If you could be transported anywhere in the world to eat and drink anything, what would it be, and with whom?

BVK: I’d go to one of the remote Japanese islands with my partner Roos and our close friends. Somewhere in the forest, overlooking the sea. We’d grill freshly caught fish, open a pot of aged miso, and make a salad from Japanese seasonal greens. And we’d drink a bottle of Nichi Nichi sake – one of the best I’ve ever tasted. That’s the dream. Good food, natural surroundings, and people you love around you.

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The Mont Cervin Palace coated in a layer of snow

The high resort of Zermatt, ringed by 4000m peaks covered with eternal snow, is home to one of the original luxury hotels in the Alps, the Mont-Cervin Palace. It also houses a hotel with one of the best views in the world: the Beausite

Mont Cervin Palace, Zermatt review

The Mont Cervin Palace is the grande dame of hotels in what is arguably the most elegant mountain-resort in the Alps. You are picked up from the station in a horse-drawn carriage and the world looks at you and smiles as you clap your way up the short distance along the High Street, past Zermatt’s unique mix of stores selling serious hiking equipment – this is still a centre of operations for hard-core climbers – and luxury watches.

The Matterhorn as seen from the Mont Cervin Palace in the heart of Zermatt

The Acacia, on walking in, has that inevitable standard of luxury only possible in Swiss hotels – that’s why they have all the hotel schools here. You don’t walk to your room; you are flowed there in a process of effortless and knowledgeable meet and greets.

Our room itself was a magnificent little suite, directly facing the Matterhorn with a south facing terrace. Look to your right and you can see the passeggiata along the traffic-free main street (Zermatt has never allowed cars), which morphs from a procession of serious climbers before dawn, to families in the early morning, the young and chic in the late morning, and absolutely everyone in the evenings when it gets quite lively down the road.

A comfortable suite in the Mont Cervin, many of which offer magnificent views of the surrounding Alps

Cuisine is a central part of the hotel’s offering and the place to dine is the Grill Le Cervin, a traditional, glam-cosy vibed restaurant in the heart of the hotel. Local lamb rack with peas, green asparagus, pommes fondant and mint; Swiss Grand Cru beef fillet; all tasted vibrant, fresh, real.

‘Cuisine is a central part of the hotel’s offering and the place to dine is the Grill Le Cervin’

This is a hotel of many parts. A short walk down a corridor leads to a major surprise, a full-size indoor swimming pool with a secret garden in which you can sunbathe in summer and tramp through the snow before jumping into the outdoor jacuzzi in winter. There is a spa and plenty of places to lie down and relax after a hard day’s hiking or watch shopping; plus amply spaced table tennis and pool tables.

The spa of Mont Cervin Palace is just one of its many luxurious offerings

As the original luxury hotel in the original summer and winter resort in the Alps, recently taken over by the brilliant Michel Reybier and brought back up to its original elegance in class, there is nothing else quite like it. Oh, and we forgot to mention the cigar lounge, one of Europe’s finest… Enjoy your Montecristo there or sneak one onto your balcony – as we did – and look at the nighttime view of the shimmering Matterhorn.

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Beausite, Zermatt Review

The resort of Zermatt, in Switzerland, has many attractions in summer and winter; frequent visitors to this chi-chi little town will agree that the most prominent of these is the Matterhorn, the celebrity mountain that towers over the valley.

The facade of the luxury hotel Beausite, Zermatt

It logically follows that a room with a view of the Matterhorn is going to be high on the list of priorities when visiting, and we can’t think of any room with a better view than the top floor corner suite in the Beausite.

Its position above the eastern shores of the Zermatt river offer the Beausite unique views

A little history: as the town developed from a farming hamlet to the global star it is today, hotels started springing up along the main street leading from the station to the church, on the right bank of the river, near the medieval huts at the village’s heart – this has been an active community for more than 1000 years.

But then just over 100 years ago someone had the idea to build a luxury hotel on a grassy knoll on the other side of the river, when there was very little there, simply because it’s elevated position would give it spectacular views of the mountain.

The outdoor pool and jacuzzi at Beausite are surrounded by breathtaking views of the Alps

Fast forward to now, and you can lie in the outdoor pool/jacuzzi at the Beausite and have uninterrupted views of the iconic rocky edifice, while still being only a couple of minutes’ walk from the resort centre.

The view from the suite was even better, so breathtaking that you would be forgiven for spending a whole day just gazing at the mountain as it changes colour, its rocks and snows reflecting the passage of cloud and times of day.

Beausite, idyllic in the snow

The suite itself is smart contemporary chic, glacier blues and 20^th century modern chairs, with plenty of light and light wood.

The hotel, previously a little old-fashioned, has had a thorough and sympathetic recent refurbishment and redesign, and we loved the bar and snooker room on the ground floor, and the vibe on the terrace – also with the same view – which is thoroughly modern luxury.

It lives up to its name, and more.

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UMŌ’s purveyor and partner Eider duck sanctuary is located in Iceland’s Fljótin, Skagafjörður, under the dedicated stewardship of one family over three generations, spanning over 80 years

Entrepreneur Binith Shah is on a mission to create the ultimate sleep experience. How? By using the rarest Eider duck feathers, gathered painstakingly and sustainably in a sanctuary in Iceland, and then having craftspeople integrate them into the best duvets in the world in Chablis, central France. Shah talks LUX through what inspires him, and takes us on a photographic voyage through the process of his craft

“One unforgettable night, I experienced the most restorative sleep imaginable, enveloped in a duvet that seemed to float above me. It was airy, plush, and perfectly temperate, as though I were cocooned in tranquility. From that moment, I was driven to share such an experience with the world.

The search led me to a rare and precious natural resource, one deeply tied to sustainability, conservation, and respect for the artisan’s hand. I partnered with a third-generation, ethical Eider duck sanctuary owner in Iceland and a B-Corp certified atelier in France that share our reverence for precision and detail. When I learned that the Japanese word for down is umō, I felt an immediate kinship with their design philosophy—pure, elevated, and intentional. From this harmony, UMŌ Paris was born.

Each duvet is a quiet masterpiece, marked only by a tonal feather embroidery – an unspoken tribute to the craftsmanship within. My hope is simple: that your sleep is transformed, as mine has been, by the unparalleled beauty of UMŌ.”

The undulating wetlands within the sanctuary provide ducks and their nests’ shelter from the frigid winds off the sea– as well as protect them against predators. The sanctuary caretakers create flagged gridlines and yellow mesh balls as visual cues to easily navigate the nests.

A stunning close-up of the Eider duck’s precious sea mist-hued eggs cradled by the supple down that naturally molts from her breast. The incubation period takes less than one month.

Tiny, vulnerable ducklings leave the nest soon after they hatch. They are typically led to the water by their mother, often with other females joining to form a “crèche” to protect them.

UMŌ’s third-generation caretaker and partner begins to sort through the valuable raw Eiderdown gathered from the nests and sanctuary grounds.

A close-up of the airy, hypoallergenic, and hypothermic Eiderdown being cleaned by hand to remove twigs, feathers, and other debris. It takes 65 hours to hand clean every 2.2 kilos of Eider down, and nearly 9,000 hours from nest to final duvet. This skilled, heritage craft, coupled with Eiderdown’s scarcity as dictated by nature, creates the ultimate in natural rarity value.

A tranquil view of the Armançon River from the La Compagnie Dumas offices, flowing alongside the historic Tonnerre-based, B-Corp Certified atelier, where tradition and craftsmanship intersect in the heart of Burgundy.

Rare Eiderdown is carefully stored in a secure, climate-controlled safe to preserve its exceptional qualities and provenance.

Covers are expertly sewn by hand using a cotton sateen, created exclusively for use with Pure Arctic Eiderdown, ensuring complete traceability.

Each duvet is measured by hand.

All duvet covers are hand-cut in the workshops.

Spools of thread await the bourdon stitch — a decorative, dense seam that has become a distinctive signature of the atelier’s craftsmanship.

A seamstress assembles each duvet cover.

Following the quilting, each duvet undergoes a final quality control process.

The atelier uses time-honoured wicker tools to distribute filling evenly — a slow, manual technique that preserves the loft and comfort of the duvet.

As another nod to the art of the detail, fine embroidery bearing the UMŌ Paris wing logo is applied, symbolising the alliance between heritage craftsmanship and contemporary design.

Each piece is finalised with the UMŌ Paris label — the bespoke touch of La Compagnie Dumas artisans.

As this woman deep in REM sleep will attest when she awakes, there is nothing like the sleep you get when enveloped in UMŌ, the best duvet in the world.

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