A French Country Chateau in North Georgia?
Saturday, December 1st, 2007
Chateau Elan - Outside of Atlanta, GA USA
A French country chateau in north Georgia? “Sure, why the hell not,” thought an Irish pharmaceutical mogul. He combined his love of wine and his wife’s love of pampering and has come up with quite a place: Chateau Elan. Once you get over the pretentiousness and the out-of-place look of the buildings, you are in for a real treat.
The resort has an inn (well hardly an “inn” in common terms) – it’s got at least 200 rooms, and it is pretty standard hotel fare.
If you really want to be coddled, the place to stay is the spa. They have 14 themed rooms: country French, vintage, Bacchus, modern, hunter’s loft and several others. So far we have stayed in the country French and the vintage (note: Bacchus is the hardest to get hold of). The rooms are all decorated to give the feel of the name: frills in country French, neon and a vibrating Hammacher-Schlemmer chair in modern, lots of grape leaves in Bacchus. Each room has a unique bathroom: some have Jacuzzis, some giant soak tubs and some waterfall tubs. The bathrooms alone are worth the price! All rooms are very unique and romantic. Just take your pick of what setting you want.
The spa has a large indoor Jacuzzi, a small gym and a juice bar. The spa services are some of the most superior I have experienced – the attendants know their stuff. So if it’s a facial, a massage, or a salt rub, you’re in good hands (literally). And because Chateau Elan is a big conference/wedding center, staying in the spa really gives you an “away from it all” feel. The spa has a small restaurant, with healthy, low fat food – not very tasty or impressive.
There are also several restaurants in the main inn and one in the winery. All of these offer acceptable food, but you definitely will not be dazzled. Recreation includes several golf courses, an indoor and outdoor pool and a bar with several pool tables. You can take tours of the winery, and get samples. However, the chateau started out by making muscatine wine (the moonshine of wines). It is very sweet and, although they make a variety of other wines now, all of them seem to be on the sweet and fruity side. This is not a wine connoisseur’s paradise.
The inn will prepare picnic basket lunches complete with wine that you can take and sit at the edge of several lakes – very nice setting, although you will have people “playing through” sometimes! The staff is helpful and accommodating. Pampering is the watchword at the spa.