Discovering a Gem in Château d’Oex: Our Heartwarming Stay at Ermitage Guest House.
We have been in touch with Sophie who owns Ermitage guest house for a while now and were so excited to get a date in the diary for our overnight stay at her place.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and were immediately impressed by the location of the guest house which is right in the middle of the town of Château d’Oex. The main house is set in beautiful grounds with a garden, things for the children, places to sit and a vegetable patch (I am very keen on the idea of a vegetable patch at the moment). We stepped inside and were greeted by Sophie who immediately made us feel welcome and at completely home. The decor is lovely, with traditional style and modern touches. Sophie had suggested we stay in the apartment so we headed off to get ourselves installed. The main building is all accessible for wheelchair users thanks to a mobility platform and lift so we were able to get Elio around in his pushchair without any problem.
The apartment is huge with a nice kitchen, sitting room, three bedrooms and two bathrooms so it is perfect for a family or a group of people and the views from all of the windows is spectacular. We got ourselves unpacked and headed back down to the stylish bar area for a drink and a chat with Sophie. The bar area is really lovely with lots of cosy places to sit and enjoy a drink and we tried some delicious home made cake as we talked about life and Sophie's project at l’Ermitage for people living with disability.
By 7pm we were all hungry so we headed next door to the dining room for dinner. The menu is concise but everything sounded delicious so it was hard to choose. The children opted for chicken with sautéed potatoes and Sophie kindly asked the kitchen to prepare a special puree for Elio who demolished it in no time at all followed by some mashed up cheesecake. I chose the vegetable tartare to start while Jean picked a salad and I took Vitello tonnato for my main while Jean took a veal tartare. Everything was absolutely delicious, really fresh and full of flavour and we all thoroughly enjoyed everything. We had been looking forward to dessert but by that point Elio was very tired and started shouting quite loudly so we decided to head back to our room to avoid disturbing other diners.
We had had a busy day and happily fell into our lovely soft beds and were soon all fast asleep.
On Sunday morning, we woke up early and were delighted by the sight of a hot air balloon preparing for take off just outside the building which was really lovely (especially as we had done our own hot air balloon ride the day before). Breakfast is served in the dining room and the smell of coffee and bread greeted us when we arrived downstairs. There is a lovely breakfast buffet of local foods including meats and cheeses, homemade jams, delicious breads as well as cereal and yoghurt options. And you must try the cake!!
The facilities of the guest house are exceptional with sauna, tea room, gift shop, wellness area and play room. The children loved every moment of our stay and Alba fell in love with Faber the dog who she wanted to spend all her time with. We absolutely loved meeting Sophie who is one of the nicest people we have met since we started the blog. It's clear that a lot of passion has gone into the creation of this beautiful oasis which has been constructed with great taste and the emphasis on the comfort of guests, right in the heart of Château d’Oex. We were really sad to leave - I think the children could have happily spent a week there.
Château d’Oex is a lovely place and there is plenty to do in the area including some ideas here.
Information
Ermitage Maison d'Hôtes
Grand Rue 4, Château-d'Oex - Vaud - Suisse
Tel: +41 26 924 25 00
https://www.ermitage-chateaudoex.ch/