Anne Caroline Frey
At Loire Valley Lodges, guests literally sleep in a work of art: these luxury treehouses have been designed by contemporary artists, offering a serene, artistic retreat in the heart of the French countryside, as founder Anne Caroline Frey explains
After meeting her second husband (“the real love of my life”), former Parisian art dealer Anne Caroline Frey was propelled in another direction – towards luxury hospitality. In 2020, during Lockdown, the mum of seven founded Loire Valley Lodges; a luxurious retreat immersed in nature. Located less than two hours from Paris, within a 300-hectare private forest in Esvres, France, this boutique hotel boasts 18 treehouses, each designed by contemporary artists to harmonise with the natural environment. Here, guests can indulge in modern comforts such as private saunas and hot tubs while reconnecting with nature through forest bathing and art exploration, while dining on gourmet fare. Here’s her story.
I was born and grew up in Paris, and initially worked in an advertising agency for 14 years. I had three children with my first husband, so I was running everywhere – to the football, to school and work and back home to cook. And then I met my real husband, the real love of my life, who also had three children, the same age as mine. And at weekends, we’d go to the countryside.
My husband is a native from the Loire Valley region, and it’s through him I discovered the charm of the countryside. I discovered nature was really relaxing and interesting for the kids. And then we had another child together. It was really hard to work in advertising with seven children, and moving from one school to another, to the countryside and back to Paris. So, I tried to find a job that was just as interesting but less stressful. I really like contemporary art, so I started building a network. I had no gallery in Paris, but plenty of art pieces I had in stock in the countryside. And I was organising events, such as intimate dinners with artists.
As our house is huge, we had artists in residence, from Argentina, Italy and Greece. They stayed with us for three months with a special studio to create, and sometimes we had meals together. They’d paint or sculpt, and then sell their art pieces – a really interesting relationship. This worked out really well for 10 years, before we decided our main residence should be in the Loire Valley instead of Paris, because we enjoyed it so much better.
Why do we feel so good? I decided it was the fact we were surrounded by nature, and especially big trees in the forest. It’s now proven that communicating with trees can help you. So that’s how the idea came to me: the wellness of being surrounded by trees. I wanted to have four cabins, which weren’t as luxurious as they are today. My husband persuaded me the business needed to be bigger!
We started thinking together about having a real hotel combining art and nature, because both environments inspired us. While I was working in art, I traveled a lot with our seventh child, and in France, the forest cabins always have small windows. And when it was raining, there was nothing to do. In Northern Europe, or even in South America, the cabins were similar, but there was much more open space, with wide windows. You could enjoy the outside from inside. So we decided to have cabins you could stay in all year round – where you could stay inside and feel the outside and communicate with nature, even in the winter or when it’s raining.
We opened our first luxury cabins in the middle of Lockdown, in July, 2020. The best part was working with architects and choosing the furniture. The worst part was having the 18 lodges built in the middle of Covid. It took a long time to build because we’re in the forest, so you can’t do whatever you want. We had to work with the State Department to have the right to build.
It’s impressive how humans change when they come to our lodges. You can see their faces change in the first 10 minutes. When they get out of the car, the first thing they do is they take out their phones and take a picture of the big oak tree. And when they shut their engines off, you just hear no noise. You only hear the birds singing, or the wind. People are really relaxed from when they come in until when they come out. It’s a different way of being. In the city, you just try not to breathe too much, because it’s polluted. But when you smell the flowers, you start breathing differently.
The Sylvan is our spa’s signature massage. We wanted to convey the experience of the forest through the massage, so we added essential oils specially made from the trees.
The critics were very positive about our restaurant, but they always wanted the food to be more gastronomic. So we hired a young chef who was coached for six months by a one star Michelin chef. He’s really passionate about what he does, and really understands the place. He only cooks with seasonal products. Mostly, what he tries to do is the same as we do in the hotel – to bring the forest to your plate. So his dishes can include some leaves from the tree, edible flowers – and a lot of mushrooms.
My kids and travelling in nature have really inspired me. We’ve always tried to find places off the beaten track, where the real luxury is space itself. We really enjoy being in small hotels, where we’re hidden somewhere. It’s how our children have become very good friends – more than brothers and sisters. They had no video games, no phones, and no choice but to play together. It created very deep links between them and very good memories. We’ve tried to reproduce this with our guests. It’s just you and your beloved, and nothing is going to pollute your feelings. So there’s no Wi Fi, no TV, no phone, there’s only you and nature and what you want to do with it.
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