Château les Merles

Part of France’s new wave of country hotels and restaurants, this estate dates from 1677, with a 19th-century château built by one of Napoleon’s generals. Dutch decorator Joris van Grinsven plays off Les Merles’s Neoclassical bones with simple, but not spartan, style. A crisp palette of white slipcovered sofas, charcoal-gray throws, and ebony-stained floors comes alive with a few ornate flourishes—Louis XV chairs covered in magenta velvet, gilt-framed mirrors. There’s a nine-hole golf course and a formal dining room serving foie gras terrine and turbot en papillote with an impressive list of Bergerac wines.