All our bedrooms have queen size beds, except Josephine, which has twins that can become a king size bed. All bedrooms have private bathrooms with large bathtubs and overhead showers and each bedroom is air conditioned. To find the prices and more information, please click on the photos. The price includes breakfast, parking and all taxes. Well behaved children of ten years or more are welcome. The Manoir is smoke free. Please go to our page. to read our Cancellation Policy. La Maison de Gardien. A 700 sq.ft. two storied 17th century cottage is separated from the Manoir by a passageway. Upstairs it has two air conditioned bedrooms and a bathroom. Downstairs there is a completely furnished modern kitchen, half bath, dining area, and living room with satellite television and CD player. There is also a table and chairs in the garden for La Maison's guests. We stock everything needed for breakfast the first day and fresh croissants are delivered to the door each morning The cottage is available for up to four people and well behaved children of five years or more are welcome. There is a minimum of three nights stay. For deposit and cancellation policy information, please see our page,. La Maison de Gardien is smoke free. For a photo tour and prices of La Maison de Gardien, please click on one of the pictures. La Maison de Portail. The gatehouse, a 17th century half timbered 580 sq. ft. cottage next to our gates, has been restored into luxury accommodations for up to four people, children of all ages, and is perfect for a romantic get-away. Upstairs, there is a small bedroom with twin beds under the low eaves of the ancient roof and a half bathroom with toilet and wash basin. Downstairs, honey colored stone floors are throughout even in the large walk-in shower and bathroom. There is a corner living room with a 19th century armoire containing satellite television, DVD, and CD player. Hidden behind antique doors, is a queen size bed that lowers from the wall. The complete kitchen will include everything needed to cook a la francaise. Daily maid service is included, except for the kitchen, which is the responsibility of the guests. We stock everything needed for breakfast the first day and fresh croissants are delivered to the door each morning. Through double doors, a stone terrace overlooks the garden with an additional table and chairs for dining. La Maison de Portail is completely air conditioned and is handicapped accessible, except for the bedroom and half bathroom upstairs. There is a minimum of three nights stay. For the prices and cancellation policy, please go to our page. La Maison de Portail is smoke free. For a photo tour of La Maison de Portail, please click on one of the pictures.

NOTES FROM OUR GUESTS....It was wonderful meeting you, and I appreciate your personal warmth and gracious hospitality, plus of course your gorgeous manoir which you have so beautifully and lovingly restored to what I am sure is far better than even its original elegance. Also, thanks for the yummy breakfasts, and the wine, cognac, etc., that we shared over delightful conversation. It was great fun meeting you, chatting with you, and tasting wine with you, and we look forward to our next visit Best regards, Just a quick note to thank you once again for the wonderful stay we had with you in your beautiful home in Amboise! It truly was a great time thanks to you! Alas, as always our stay was far too short Cheers for and keep in touch, Love from. We are now back home in Colorado. We had a wonderful trip. Looking back, we found our stay with you was one of the highlights. My wife still talks of you beautiful Manoir and hospitality. Thanks again for making our trip so enjoyable Your friends. Don and Nona R, Colorado. We stayed at your beautiful Manor House last month, and we just wanted to write to you and tell you how much we enjoyed it. We thought that your manor house was far more interesting than Chenonceau. Your collection of art, books, and memorabilia was fascinating. We really felt that the highlight of our trip to the Loire was staying at your place Sincerely, Thank you again for the wonderful time at your lovely inn. The whole family agreed that it was a perfect place to stay when visiting Chateau's and villages of such beauty and ambiance. We got to come home in the evening to the luxuries of your manoir! Take care and keep in touch I will be extolling the virtues of Le Vieux Manoir to all our family and friends! Love to all, Barbara, Brian, Meghan, and Erin B. We stayed at your hotel this summer, and we very much enjoyed our stay. We particularly enjoyed sleeping on very comfortable mattresses! Could you please provide us the manufacturer and the phone and/or email of the manufacturer. We need new mattresses and the first thing that we thought of was our stay in Amboise. Merci Beaucoup, Douglas and Joanne D. Mark and I had a wonderful time at your lovely manor. You certainly made us feel more at home than any other place. My friends have been duly impressed with the photos of the rooms and the gardens and the stories of the omelets made with Gilbert's tomatoes. Do say hello to Gilbert from his other American friends. How are things with you? Amboise was my favorite town, because of the smallness, and the little chateau, and the friendly people. We had some great food (fromage!!!) and company, too! Thank you for your hospitality. We hope to hear from you soon. Yours in fromage, Susan and Mark E., Florida. We had a wonderful time with you, basking in your considerable hospitality and enjoying your hilarious escapades. I have already recommended you to a friend who will probably see you next summer. I will write you more soon. Thank you again for making our visit such a treat. It was truly as you said...everything everyone dreams of when they think of French countryside... With love... John M., California. I wanted to thank you for the wonderful stay we had at Le Vieux Manoir. Matt and I loved it. Your hospitality was appreciated much and it was so nice to have someone who spoke English that we could communicate with. I will be recommending you to anyone I know going to the Loire Valley. Best regards, Tom F. We easily found our new home-away-from-home, Le Vieux Manoir. It is a restored 17th-century manor house, owned by an American couple. Our host was Gloria, an expert who loves living in France- (she attended the language institute in Amboise). They gutted and restored this house, and it offers 7 rooms and a guest house. We love our 3rd story room- it looks out onto the traditional drive and garden with neighboring rooftops completing the view. The decorations and furnishings are very true to the original style - and done beautifully - it was a pleasure to explore the house. Posted by on the France Travel Board. In September we were deposited at your doorstep by our taxi driver and you were kind enough to get us to the correct address and treating us to a good ol' coke. Yola and I appreciate and remember your thoughtfulness. We also thank you for allowing us to take a tour of Le Vieux and though it was a short one it is to be remembered and hope we will get the opportunity to stay in Le Vieux on our next visit to France. You have chosen a pleasant and nice village to settle down. We enjoyed Amboise and hope next time to see more of the village and surrounding area. Two days are but a blink. We have given out your postcard to friends, and will pass on the internet and email address as we talk to friends about France and especially you and Le Vieux. Wishing you the best ever, Eugenia S. and Yola S., Seattle. We are back safe and sound from our trip to France and have such nice memories--not the least of which was our brief stay in Arnboise with you. It was really fun to meet you, stay at your lovely home and also to chat loudly with a bunch of Americans at breakfast!..I will spread the word to others who are headed your way....Again, it was great meeting you and I sure hope to come stay in Amboise with you again--or at the very least, send some business your way. All the best, Candy G. Bonjour Gloria, Well we made it home. What a great vacation we had in France. I want to thank you again for making our stay so memorable. We enjoyed staying with you tremendously, your home is fabulous, and your breakfasts were the best we had in FranceMarie I. We got back from our two week trip to France last Sunday, and it was perhaps our nicest trip ever to Europe. We enjoyed Normandy, but the Loire was just fabulous. In particular, we loved staying in Amboise and at Le Vieux Manoir. We so enjoyed meeting you and chatting and laughing, and our accommodations were nothing short of spectacular. The cleanliness and order are commendable, and the fine breakfasts are the best start for a great day on the road or just loafing Warm regards, Steve and Peggy P., Atlanta Thanks again for helping to make our stay in Amboise so delightful. This morning I was complimenting Brad because I awoke to fresh brewed coffee and he said Just like Gloria, huh? We remember you fondly and will recommend your gracious hospitality and beautiful home to our friends. Thanks again, Linda and Brad

When a sixtysomething American couple opened a French BB, they didn't expect a crash course in Gallic banking, contract law, and village politics. Serial entrepreneurs don't retire -- they just start over in the Loire Valley. At least, that's what Gloria Belknap did. After running a catering business in California in her thirties, then a Boston bed-and-breakfast in her forties and fifties, she recently opened a BB in Amboise, France, the heart of wine country, in her sixties. Creating a business in rural France was more than honoring a promise to herself, it was an odyssey that no how-to book could possibly have charted. Being a deeply committed romantic was a big factor in Belknap's success, probably a bigger one than her business plan. Business plans in a foreign country are a wonderful act of faith, Belknap says. That might work in Paris, but they deal on a more personal level in this area. She learned this when she took her business plan to local banks three years ago, trying to borrow the purchase price, roughly $400,000, for the 18th century manor house in the center of the village. First, she tried the American approach: This is who I am, this is what I'm planning, and these are the assets. They laughed, she recalls. EASY CREDIT. But news of the eccentric American who wanted to turn a neglected old house into a BB traveled on the grapevine. Someone told her that the bankers at Credit Agricole in Mont-Louis were interested. So, at 9:30 a.m., over drinks in the Credit Agricole wine cellar, the bankers asked, What would it take to do business with you? Belknap's reply: I want 100% of the purchase price for 15 years at 5.9%, and she got it, no business plan required. Those bankers go with assumptions they've made, with what they've heard about you...they knew the business in Boston had been a success, she explains. Belknap's husband, Bob, had retired from his engineering job in Boston and was planning to help oversee the restoration work on the house, which had been unhappily modernized. Trouble was, the restoration, landscaping, and furnishing took much longer and, at $650,000, cost three times more than planned. So Bob unretired and went back to his old job for two more years to help pay the bills. They had gotten their seed money by dividing their townhouse in Boston into two condos, selling one and keeping one. During the restoration -- a matter of simplifying, and clarifying, and letting in the light -- Gloria learned more about doing business in France. The fine print in the contract with her former architect specified that, if she fired him, he was entitled to 20% of the project's budget. Because of that, he wouldn't quit, even though they were unhappy with one another. Gloria says she drew on the many Saturdays she had spent watching Joan Crawford and Bette Davis movies and scared him into quitting. CIVICS LESSON. She's also learning how not to fight Village Hall. Gloria had been given the O.K. to have stanchions installed across the street from the BB to prevent cars parking on the narrow street and making it difficult for visitors to turn into her drive. On the day workers were preparing to begin the installation, a neighbor left her house and spoke to them -- and all work stopped. Gloria quizzed the neighbor and village officials to identify the problem, but could not get an explanation. She regrets using the Americanism, You'll be hearing from my lawyer, and has decided to take the advice of her acupuncturist and wait until after the village elections next month, when the powers that be are expected to be defeated. Now that the work is done and Le Vieux Manoir has been open for more than a year, Bob is retiring again to join his wife. He doesn't speak French and doesn't care that, at 65, he will be the oldest student at the language school just down the street from their BB. The Belknaps have worked hard throughout their 44-year marriage, have grown children, and several grandchildren in America, and could retire comfortably. I have no intention of sitting down and dying, Bob says. Neither does his wife, Old women are supposed to sit back and be observers of life. I intend to do something I feel is worthwhile until the last call, until I see the guy in the white nightgown at the end of the drive, Gloria says. And even then, I'll call him in and see if he wants a drink. AFFAIR OF THE HEART. They didn't do it for the money -- they did it to live life in a beautiful setting amid a culture that fascinates them. They supervise a small staff, and although Gloria might find herself folding towels at 11 p.m., there is usually some point in the day when she can wander down the street to a 12th century church and listen to the bells. You walk around a corner and you'll have that rush of the past that comes over you, she says. Or the way the light hits a wall is so special that it grabs your heart and it's just like love. In 2000, their first full year in business, Le Vieux Manoir had 1,600 guests and the Belknaps expect more this year through word-of-mouth, travel writers, and advertising. I only want to make enough money to pay the bank, pay the workers, and enjoy the life, Gloria says. Travelers attracted to Amboise tend to be as curious, and as much in love with France, as she is. The Belknaps make maps for their visitors, pointing out the typical, the atypical, the best places to eat, and the best routes. In rural France, where many BBs are spartan by American standards, Le Vieux Manoir is considered luxurious and expensive. In season, the six rooms are $115 to $155, including breakfast, wine, and all taxes. There's also a separate, two-bedroom garden house on the property for up to four guests. STAYING THE COURSE. Now that the hard part is over, the couple recall how, in the middle of the expensive and problem-plagued renovation, Bob had a crisis of faith and questioned the wisdom of sinking more money into the manor. But fear of failure kept Gloria from even considering quitting. I gave my word to the workers and to the bank, she says. No way was I going to let us fail. As word of her success spreads, Frenchwomen call the gutsy American for advice about turning their homes into BBs. Gloria says they should ask themselves three questions: Why would visitors come to your neighborhood? What kind of people do you want to attract? Is your property appropriate? She doesn't tell them about the business techniques gleaned from Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Some things just don't translate. in New York Edited by Robin J. Phillips. Business Week Online on Mar 19, 2001