At the end of a driveway in Verneuil d'Avre et d'Iton, on the edge of the Perche forest, an hour's drive away (depending on traffic, a little more or a little less than an hour), stands a brick house from 1886 with an Anglo-Norman pepper-pot tower: Hotel Verneuil la DouceFor years, it was Le Clos, one of the first addresses with the Relais & Châteaux label. In October 2025, after two years of renovations, it reopened under a new name and with a new owner: Camille Omerin, who previously founded the fashion label Maison Père. That touch of fashion is unmistakable: the hotel is fantastic and, above all, innovative.

Seven artists were commissioned to cover all the walls of the building with their designs. Yassine Mekhnache painted the stairwell, Ségolène Derudder the rooms.

Camille Omerin left the exterior largely untouched: red brick, natural stone, turrets, and the existing conservatory remained. Inside, virtually nothing has been left untouched. All the artists were each assigned a part of the house. Ségolène Derudder worked on the common areas, taking Greek mythology as a starting point and the four seasons as a structure – Persephone, Helios, Hera. In the rooms, she wrote lines of poetry on the wall. Ben Arpea painted the bottom of the outdoor pool, a Norman spring landscape. Kimmy Quillin worked in the Orangerie, a space with nine brick arches that is now used for Pilates, film nights, and gatherings. Work by Hermentaire and Alice Louradour hangs in the spa.

The furniture in the conservatory is custom-made based on sketches by Omerin himself, in bouclé and textured fabrics on dark wood. In the rooms, the cabinet handles are cast in the shape of a human silhouette. The bathrooms have white ceramic washbasins with undulating folds, and a mirror framed by sage green spheres. In restaurant Patiné – also nice to visit even if you aren't staying here but are in the area – Napoleon III-style armchairs with lyre-shaped backrests, upholstered in fabric by Maison Thevenon, stand between marble fireplaces and gilded mirrors. The plates are by Bernardaud. The house also has its own scent, Cèdre Rose, and a permanent playlist. We love it all.

There are seventeen rooms and suites, spread across the main building and an annex, and although the hotel might not sound very kid-friendly, it actually is: there are even rooms with bunk beds.

The centerpiece is the Glassroom, an Eiffel-style conservatory with a wood-burning stove, serving as a tea room during the day and a cocktail bar in the evening. Restaurant Patiné is run by chef Cyril Coutin and works with products from the Perche region and plenty of vegetables. The gastronomic menu is available Thursday and Friday evenings, Saturday afternoon and evening, and Sunday evening; brunch is served on Sunday afternoons. A lighter menu is available continuously throughout the rest of the week.

The indoor pool is open all year round and overlooks the terrace and the garden, where two-hundred-year-old cedars and plane trees stand. There is also a sauna, a hammam, and a Holidermie treatment room. The outdoor pool is open only during the season. Verneuil la Douce