Following on from the successes of 2024 and a Michelin Key award, Loire Valley Lodges is delighted to announce exciting developments for 2025, as it further elevates its wellbeing offering, cementing its position as the leader in its field when it comes to sustainably-minded wellbeing experiences and the healing power of nature. As we move into 2025, founders Anne-Caroline and Bertrand Frey will oversee an exciting transformation, as Loire Valley Lodges becomes a destination in its own right.
With its transformation underway, a new umbrella brand “Palace Nature” has been created. Connecting the portfolio, Palace Nature is about being alive: it is intimacy; it is instinct. It is what uplifts and anchors; it reconnects with the body and rekindles the soul. Bringing the outside in and the inside out, it is an aspirational brand where nature remains king, developing its own language, free from the limits of space and time. A collection of complementary wellbeing focused brands, Palace Nature will house the existing 18 lodges, Ardent and Asperatus restaurants, and spa. The three new lodges and the organic farm will also sit within the Palace Nature brand, creating a nourishing, 360 experiential offering for both local and international clientele that focuses on mind, body and soul.
Design-led, sustainably minded lodges
2025 sees three new artists taking over and redesigning three of the existing lodges. In addition to their artistic redesign, these lodges will take on a more ecological dimension: all radiators in these new lodges have been replaced by reversible air conditioners equipped with a heat pump to reduce energy consumption.
Lodge 1: “Racimes” by Joan Peix
Peix’s works and the language he uses to express his vision of the world comes straight from Arta in the Balearic Islands. A signature style of Peix is the raw organic matter, the earth, used to give this lodge a universal dimension. Warm, earthy tones and raw materials add warmth to the space and result in a lodge that feels natural, peaceful and calm.
“For me, art, and in particular the creation of images, is a way of expressing myself and communicating with life. Simplicity, layers, sediments, textures, poetry, subtlety – in a way, my work shows my way of seeing the world, of feeling and experimenting. Textures and pigments connect me to the flow of life, to beauty, harmony, connection and communication between the elements, giving way to subtle flashes of light where the invisible expresses itself.” – Peix
Lodge 2: “Trianon” by Claire Adelfan
Live the castle fairytale in the heart of the forest. Through her lens, Adelfang offers silver prints of the Queen’s hamlet in Versailles. In-lodge, light tones are juxtaposed with the stone of the châteaux, transporting her guests into a hushed, intimate world, like a small period boudoir.
“I’m interested in the natural environment transformed by man and the indirect traces of his presence, building a silent, contemplative dialogue between man and history. I work with a film camera and my practice is mainly focused on abandoned or future architecture, particularly industrial or military remains, but also emblematic sites that are often inaccessible to the public. I try to emphasis the unreal nature of these environments” – Adelfang
Lodge 3: “Madame C” by Carolina Ritzler
In this lodge, Ritzler invites you into her Parisian world, where every detail and object is a wink. In a monochrome atmosphere with a sixties feel, you’ll find vinyl turntables, ‘hidden ass’ photo prints and a ‘wishing suit’ where each guest can pin a white ribbon on which their most heartfelt wish is inscribed in black.
“Madame C is a woman of instinct who affirms her desire to be, to create and to pass on. She wants to create in order to see, to create in order to give, to create in order to hear and to constantly continue to feel… She draws on different arts: dance, theatre, music, photography, painting… and imagines her collections like a composer writes his score: the notes are the colours, the textures set the rhythm…”. – Ritzler
LaFerme: An organic ecosystem is born
Faithful to its values of respect for the environment, sustainable farming and the cultivation of taste and health, Loire Valley Lodges is taking its approach one step further in the creation of its own organic farm: LaFerme. Situated on no less than 30 hectares of meadows surrounded by hedgerows, with soil that has not been ploughed or treated for over 50 years, LaFerme has established three primary production lines headed by three farmers, each an expert in his respective field.
LaFerme works according to Jean-Martin Fortier’s living soil market gardening (LSG) approach, to produce vegetables that are 100% organic, 100% healthy and 100% rich in flavour. To maximise biodiversity, LaFerme also has a poultry and lamb farm. In this way, LaFerme responds to three major priorities: health, proximity and sustainability. To achieve this, a team of enthusiasts is working at LaFerme to help raise the profile of the Loire Valley Lodges’ gastronomy.
By 2025/2026, LaFerme will be able to produce and market:
- Its own vegetables (thanks to a 2,000m2 market garden, launching spring 2025)
- Its own Noire du Berry poultry (reared from autumn 2024; launching January 2025)
- Suffolk lamb (reared from June 2025; launching spring 2025)
In addition to the above, a citrus fruit orchard is being planted (in production by summer of 2026), along with the creation of an organic sector to supply the surrounding gourmet restaurants (including Loire Valley Lodges), and, imminently, an Ecocert label, making LaFerme a fully-fledged player in organic farming.
Since its opening in 2020, Loire Valley Lodges has sought to celebrate the marriage of art, nature and wellbeing, focusing on the art of slow, coupled with discreet yet warm service and innovative gastronomic experiences. 2025 is set to be Palace Nature and Loire Valley Lodges most exciting year yet, with emphasis on the guest experience and a fully nourishing, nature-based approach to hospitality experiences, farm to table dining, sustainability and wellbeing.
