I’ve been meaning to post this for our classic car aficionados eg @Stella . I spotted this place in a newspaper article and stayed there a month ago. A lovely place run by lovely people. A good place to wallow in motoring nostalgia A little, unspoilt gem.
A few photos from their past (heritage might be a better word) they emailed me…
It is a great hotel with great food it used to be my local as I have a house 5 miles away, around the 24 hours and classic time it is a brilliant place to see some stunning cars.
I’d love a “real” Bentley. I remember coming across a bunch of them on tour at Pilgram’s rest in SA and thinking how cool is that. May I recommend two books, which you may have already read;
Yep, we used to pass through this village on our way to Le Mans… and have had coffee more than once sitting at a pavement table of this very hotel.
First time, we stopped purely by chance … as there was easy parking for our belle voiture… (and I needed a loo)… and watched with delight as a group of classics arrived to book-in.
We had a wonderful time chatting, before waving them goodbye and heading for our own accommodation in Le Mans itself.
EDIT: I found myself carefully scrutinizing the photos … just in case I was lurking… how daft is that.
Wonderful memories of those days though… great camaraderie…
Brings back a lot of good memories .We lived in St Vincent Du Lourouer for a couple of years ( before the turn of the century)which is a few miles away from La Chartre sur le Loir and we loved to visit the town for shopping,coffee or a glass of wine at this hotel(or the little bistro on the square and the tea room attatched to a gift shop on a corner)
So I had a flood of nostalgia when I saw these photos.
Most of the photos are on the bar/restaurant wall but when it was bought and refurbished by the present British owners in 2014, the old owners took all the photos with them.
The new owners had wallpaper made replicating the photos and have been replacing them one by one when copies of the originals are available, so a lot of the photos are black and white wallpaper photos.
I have been going and staying there for 40 years.
If you are ever looking for a fantastic small restaurant, go up the hill from the front village square car park and on the right hand side just before you leave the town there is a Dutch restaurant called La Luna, brilliant food and atmosphere.
The restaurant was the Restaurant L’Estaminet and was totally orange inside (it was like being inside an advert for Tango ) now under new ownership after the owner and chef retired and now very grey inside
OH and I have been journeying down memory lane and fighting with Google Earth to locate some of the glorious hidden-gems we’ve stayed in over the past 50 years…
Certainly brightened our day so far (grotty weather) and taken our minds briefly off the troubles further afield.
Somewhere in those pictures of the GT40 there will be a friend of mine, Angus McPhail, who was a mechanic on the GT40 project.
Angus went on to form McCoy Dynamics and designed and built a ‘motorcycle’ dragster [ie 2 wheels] using a Ford-Cosworth engine obtained from his ex-colleagues of the GT40 team.
The design was a ‘sled’ with the engine at the back driving a F1 wheel/tyre, Angus lying on his front, steering a scooter wheel!
The connection continues because the dragster was named The Jade Warrior because the livery was paid for out of the promotional budget of the latest album released by the instrumental duo Jade Warrior, who are/were friends of mine. [One has died]
For a fine review of The Jade Warrior dragster and the development and mods to that ex GT40 Ford–Cosworth V8, see this video. After the ads
.I’m not sur if it was that one but it seemed like a small bar and La Patronne served small toasts with Rillettes if you were drinking a glass of the local wine.
Special little places that are disappearing even faster than my hair. I’ve stayed at a few, now past their prime, hotels that were booming in the old RN7 days. I must be a nostalgia junky. IMHO the original RN7 meander is more fun than the MacDo, Burgerking, Wendy’s route 66.
We would stay overnight at Mouterre-Silly on our way to Le Mans…
and the first time I tasted Rillette de Sarthe was with aperos (home-made eau de vie), some 8+ of us sitting round the large table in the farmhouse kitchen. Several nationalities but all speaking some sort of French…
My understanding got better as the drinks flowed…
I’m around 25 miles further north now as I bought another farm around 5-6 years ago, the original house is rented out now, whereabouts are you, pm me if you don’t want to put the location on here.
A little, unspoilt gem.
it used to be my local as I have a house 5 miles away, around the 24 hours and classic time it is a brilliant place to see some stunning cars.
) now under new ownership after the owner and chef retired and now very grey inside 
