Burgundy, at plonk prices

But, and this is the point, we’re not talking pure gluttony here. The distinguished past — still present in the abundance of romanesque churches, the mighty abbeys, Dijon and any number of castles — bathes the Burgundian experience in a sort of afterglow of historical richness, at once secular and religious, grown benign over the centuries. Lingering at table is thus a duty imposed by a benevolent heritage. It would be outrageously improper not to fall in line.

The more so that there are some notable hotels dotted about the region, all under our £100-per-double limit (and presented below in north-to-south order). These will serve well for folk stopping off en route somewhere else, the usual reason for a visitor’s presence in Burgundy. But why not use them as bases for a proper stay in the region? Give it a few days and you’ll not be disappointed. Or hungry.

Château de Courban, Courban

There are two reasons for going to Courban, a farming village off the plain where Burgundy bangs into Champagne. The first is that nobody else does. Though it’s handy for a host of things — southern champers, Chablis, Châtillon and its Celtic remains, some lovely countryside — tractors invariably outnumber tourists.

The second is the hotel. Though more bourgeois mansion than real chateau, this is a place to rest the head for just as long as it takes.

Of course, you’d expect a former interior designer to get the insides right — and Pierre Vandendriessche undoubtedly has. He has infused the old walls with light and a swish of style, leaving integrity intact. Rooms are a splendid mix of strong-hued repro fabrics, antique furniture, interesting clutter and alcoves with bathrooms slotted in. Sumptuous may be the word.

Less expected is the informal warmth that suffuses the place. Public rooms are designed as if they haven’t been designed at all. There are books that are actually read, and left scattered about, in the library; a grand piano for playing in the lounge. Depending on numbers, guests might eat more or less anywhere (and whatever they like, as long as they warn beforehand) — in the Vandendriessche kitchen, the library before the fire, the splendid gardens, or the restaurant in the former stables, by the new pool. “People are welcomed as friends,” says Mr V. Every hotelier on earth says that. Here, it makes some sense.

Over coffee after lunch — in Mr V’s own dining room — I’m talking to a charming, chain-smoking fellow English guest who, for reasons un- explained, has left his Bentley ticking over in the courtyard. “Don’t tell anyone about this place,” he says. “I want to keep it secret to me.” Ah. Sorry about that.

00 33 3 80 93 78 69, www.chateaudecourban.com. Doubles £47-£104, meals from £18. Shortly after Troyes, take exit 23 off the A5 motorway for Montigny-sur-Aube, then Courban

Auberge de la Quatr’Heurie, Bèze

The Quatr’Heurie is such a classically traditional French auberge that it verges on the theatrical. So does boss Michel Feuchot. With mutton chops meeting up in a moustache, a comfort zone where his waist used to be, glass in hand and gleam in eye, he’s clearly the product of some 19th-century innkeeper mould. Except that he, like his half-timbered inn, is a genuine creation.

“Very astute animals, donkeys,” he says, apropos of nothing. Around him, the bar is pretty much solid wood, with open fires blazing, hams and saucissons hanging, a wine cellar through one door and great thick tables for dining on through a couple of others. From there, the auberge wanders all over the place. ()

Corridors weave and creak, stairs show up where you least expect them and, if and when you find your room, it’s genuine country comfort, with four-poster style. The Romeo et Juliette suite has a double bed, double bath and (this may be a first in the international hotel trade) a double toilet. “My husband’s idea,” says Nicole Feuchot.

Downstairs, you eat as folk have always eaten round here, but better — perhaps meat spit-roasted on the fire. The kids can romp out to play in an outbuilding where Michel, a former primary-school teacher, has re-created an old classroom. Then take a walk through one of the loveliest villages in Burgundy, along to where the river Bèze surges from the ground.

So what’s with the donkeys? Michel, it transpires, is grand master of a donkey breeders’ fraternity. He has 34 of them himself (donkeys, not breeders). “Very prudent beasts,” he grins. “Much brighter than horses.”

“Though not as tasty,” chips in someone from along the bar.

00 33 3 80 75 30 13, www.quatrheurie.com. Doubles £47-£89, meals from £18.50. From Dijon, follow the D70, direction Gray, to Mirebeau- sur-Bèze, then left to Bèze

Auberge de l’Atre, Quarré-les-Tombes

The Morvan is a land apart within Burgundy, a granite massif of doughty little hills and forest, of burbling streams and wandering lanes. It has always been a region of farming, logging and lives lived hard. It remains several paces behind mainstream France.

Ideal, then, for hiking, biking, canoeing or knocking yourself out in any number of active pursuits. Get details from www.morvan-tourisme.org or the HQ of the Morvan regional park at St Brisson: 00 33 3 86 78 79 57. Then, when suitably knackered, repair to this auberge in the countryside outside Q-le-T. It’s a fine place to recover.

It has been built out around the core of an old farmhouse to provide big, pleasing contemporary bedrooms and a lounge with wood-smoke atmosphere. But what you’re really here for is the restaurant. In roughly the middle of nowhere, Francis Salamolard has established an outpost of gastronomy by, I’d say, the simple expedient of never staying still for above 35 seconds. In their leisure hours, he and his staff dug out most of the 40,000-bottle wine cellar with hands, picks and shovels.

But, if he rarely relaxes, it’s so that you might — over food and wine, to erase the ravages of physical exercise. You’ll therefore be ready for another bout in the morning. Or, then again, not.

00 33 3 86 32 20 79, www.auberge-de-latre.com. Doubles £49.50-£65, half-board from £60pp, dinner menus from £28. After Auxerre, take Avallon turn-off from A6 motorway, then to Cussey-les-Forges, on to Quarré-les-Tombes and out to Les Lavaults

Hôtel Le Clos, Montagny-les-Beaune

This is one for those who want to do the wine thing in Burgundy. You tour the big-name vineyards of the Côte-d’Or — between Dijon and the Beaune district — then you pop into Beaune itself, wine capital and evidence of just what plump prosperity centuries of top-class plonk can bring to a town.

Then, leaving Beaune to the zillion other tourists, you drive on a few miles to the village of Montagny. You ignore the residential development and turn in to this former wine farmstead with a sigh of contentment. There’s a tranquillity about the place that knocks stress on the head.

Built round a courtyard, and trimmed with gardens, Le Clos has been renovated recently with taste and class (and I may be being unjust here) surprising in a former top-notch rugby player.

There’s light and space about the old stone walls and the warm feel of things done expensively and right. Bedrooms have colour-washed walls, genuine antique furni-ture and plenty of comfort. But no minibars. “I don’t like to think of people tippling alone in their rooms,” says Alain Oudot (once of Dijon XV). “I’d rather they were in the bar. With me.”

There’s no restaurant, either — but, 50yd up the road, Le Berger du Temps has an idiosyncratic take on regional cooking, full-sized model sheep in the garden and menus from £14.50. Be back before the bar shuts, though, if you like talking rugby.

00 33 3 80 25 97 98, www.hotelleclos.com. Doubles £47-£75, suites £93-£143. From the Beaune ring road, follow signs to Montagny-les-Beaune

Hôtel de Bourgogne, Cluny

Cluny is a small town living well in the aura of a grand medieval past, when its grandiose abbey extended influence and tentacles across most of Europe. Its extraordinary church, the Maior Ecclesia, was the biggest in the world until St Peter’s in Rome snaffled the title.

By then, Cluny abbey was already in a decline hastened by the French Revolution, after which, folk knocked down most of the magnificent colossus. They pinched the stones for building. But the octagonal belfry and southern transept, about 10% of the whole, remain. So do other elements of the abbey establishment — sufficient to endow Cluny with a dignity that defies time.

The great advantage of the Hôtel de Bourgogne is that it is right in among it. Indeed, it was built, as a hostelry, in 1817, more or less where the cathedral narthex had been; excavations outside the breakfast room illustrate the point.

Though renovated to modern standards, the old stone spot retains its 19th-century, ever-so-slightly dated atmosphere — sober, comfortable and cosy in the lounge. And it’s all warmed through by the smile of the owner, Nathalie Colin. (I didn’t meet her husband, but I’m sure he’s very nice, too.) A pleasing place to stay, then, in a splendid town to visit. A town that was, incidentally, home to François Mitterrand’s in-laws. The late president was a frequent visitor. This, of course, can swing both ways in terms of pulling in the crowds.

00 33 3 85 59 00 58, www.hotel-cluny.com. Doubles £56-£66, suites £107; menus from £16.50. Leave the A6 at Mâcon; follow signs for Cluny

Getting there: the best way to tackle Burgundy is in your own car — Dijon is a 354-mile drive from Calais. Hoverspeed (0870 240 8070, www.hoverspeed.com) has Dover-Calais sailings, with fares in July from £98 (for a car and passengers). Or try P&O Ferries (0870 598 0333, www.poferries.com).

Alternatively, fly to Geneva (about 90 miles from Dijon), with EasyJet (0905 821 0905, 65p per minute; www.easyjet.com) from Belfast, Newcastle, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol, Luton and Gatwick, with July fares from £75. Aer Lingus (0818 365000, www.aerlingus.com) flies from Dublin from €229 in July. Holiday Autos (0870 400 4461, www.holidayautos.co.uk ) has a week’s inclusive hire from Geneva from £119.