In this spa town north of Pau, Michel and Christine Guérard”s “exquisite, tiny village” stands in a park full of flowers and statues. They run it with their daughters and son-in-law, and it includes a spa treating obesity and rheumatism, a gym, shops, an inn, an auberge, and M. Guérard”s famous hotel/restaurant (Relais & Châteaux). Curistes eat his cuisine minceur, but other visitors feast on the much-admired cuisine gourmande (three Michelin stars, for 39 years). The restaurant, in four rooms, has cane chairs, chandeliers, pale colours, oil paintings. Bedrooms have lots of white wood, “admirable bathroom; three perfect red roses in vases — more came on the breakfast trays, loaded with delicious things”. The suites are in an 18th-century nunnery, the Couvent des Herbes. Drinks are taken on a patio with illuminated fountains and statues. In the auberge, La Ferme aux Grives, the restaurant is like a medieval banqueting hall, roasts turning on spits. The “cordial” Guérards are often around.