Let's Spend The Night Together: Les Moulins de Ramatuelle, St Tropez

Les Moulins de Ramatuelle is small enough to be a private house and, as soon as you walk down the garden path, past the raised herb beds and through the front door, you'll wish it was, and that you lived there.

Les Moulins de Ramatuelle is small enough to be a private house and, as soon as you walk down the garden path, past the raised herb beds and through the front door, you'll wish it was, and that you lived there. In front of you is an open-sided room with sofas that look so comfortable you immediately want to fling yourself onto one and thumb through one of the glossy magazines left lying about. Next to this is the courtyard dining room: meals are usually taken outside. The food is one of the main reasons to be here, although those who come for the delicious dinner but stay elsewhere miss out on the best treat: an exquisite breakfast of fresh fruit with a huge array of home-made pastries.

LOCATION

Les Moulins de Ramatuelle is on the Route des Plages, Lieu-Dit les Moulins, 83350 Ramatuelle, France (00 33 4 94 97 17 22, www.christophe-leroy.com), a couple of miles outside Saint-Tropez as you head west towards Pampelonne beach.

You can walk to the beach in about 20 minutes.

Transport: The airports at Toulon and Nice are both within easy reach of Les Moulins by road. The centre of Saint-Tropez is about 10 minutes from the hotel; a taxi will cost around €15 (£11).

COMFORTABLE?

Les Moulins has only four rooms, which are identified with girls' names rather than numbers - Anice, Alizee, Atlantide and Abeille - and one suite, Alice.

The curtains, bed covers and upholstery are all pale cream and white cottons and linens, while the simple painted wooden furniture adds to cool, fresh design; the rooms are also air-conditioned. The suite has a comfortable sitting area, which is curtained off from the bedroom; otherwise the rooms are not overly large, but there is plenty of space to relax downstairs.

Freebies: The usual soaps and shampoos. Bathrobes are also provided in the rooms.

Keeping in touch: All fairly basic. Each room has a telephone, and a television which shows only French channels. A fax machine is available at reception. For the moment there are no internet facilities for guests.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The rooms cost €222 (£155) a night; the suite is €289 (£203). Breakfast is an extra €14.50 (£10) per person.

I'm not paying that: The ideal alternative is the Saint Gilles in the beautiful hill village of Ramatuelle, at 31 Rue Georges Clemenceau (00 33 4 94 79 20 46) which has rooms for €50 (£35), although it is changing hands at present and may not be open for another couple of months.