Thirty-six rooms
There are four kinds of room, spread over three floors of the villa. No two are quite alike, since the house wasn't built to a plan that would have allowed it. All of them have windows that open, cotton sheets, a kettle and good reading light on both sides of the bed. You only get a television if you ask for one at reception.
first floor, balcony
Glazed doors open onto a balcony wide enough for two chairs and a small table, and that's what's on it. On a clear morning the mountain the room is named for is straight ahead, over the top of the plane trees. There are ten along the first-floor corridor, all facing south and all with the shutters that came with the house.
If you ask the night before, breakfast can be carried up. The balcony doors are old and heavy, and they stay open on their own in any wind short of a gale.
We stopped putting televisions in as standard in 2018. Four guests have asked for one since.Marianne Fauvel, head of reception
second floor, water side
The windows run from knee height to the picture rail, so the view takes in the whole width of the lake, with La Tournette on the right. There are twelve, all on the second floor, and in each one the bed faces the glass instead of the door. The second-floor corridor is the quietest in the house because nothing else is up there.
ground floor, garden door
These sit on the ground floor under the plane trees, each with a door of its own onto the lawn and a boot rack outside it. They stay cool in August. The two at the north end take a dog without any fuss, and all six are reached from the hall without a step.
third floor, under the roof
Up in the roof, where the carpenters of 1903 left the beams exposed and nobody since has had the nerve to box them in. The ceilings slope, the window is set into the slope, and the floor creaks in two known places. The lift stops at the second floor, so you climb the last flight on foot.
Rooms are ready from 15:00 and we ask for them back by 11:00. Before or after that, bags can go in the old luggage room behind the stair. If you're arriving late, tell us roughly when and somebody will wait up.
Breakfast is served in La Véranda from 07:15 to 10:00, and until 10:30 on Sunday. The bread comes from the bakery on Avenue d'Albigny, and your eggs are cooked once you've ordered them.
Quiet hours run from 22:30 to 07:00 in the bedroom corridors. The east wing is across the hall behind heavy doors, so the evening down there doesn't reach the bedrooms.
Rooms are cleaned daily between 09:30 and 14:00. Hang the card on the handle and we'll leave you alone. We change towels when you put them on the floor, since that's the one signal we trust.