It all started in 2011 when a group of Brussels friends decided to create the perfect seaside hotel.
They snapped up the abandoned hotel Les Tourelles in the forgotten French resort of Le Crotoy and reinvented it as a cool beach hotel with bunk beds for kids. It quickly became a sensation. It’s hard now to book a room.
Three years later, the group took over an abandoned ski lift station in the Swiss Alps, above the town of Champéry. They turned it into a gorgeous mountain hotel called Plein Ciel. Another hit.
The group finally realised their plan to open a hotel in Belgium. Deep in the Ardennes, the hotel Les Sorbiers occupies a grand mansion on the River Meuse once owned by a rich Belgian industrialist. It has been turned into an idyllic country hotel with a restaurant and riverside bar.
Like the other two hotels, Les Sorbiers is a stylish hotel with some quirky details. The rooms don’t have TVs, but instead the owners leave a book on the table by the bed. It’s yours to take home if you want.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
