Hotel Can Borrell

Tucked high in a mountain valley, Meranges is one of the few remaining unspoiled Catalan villages in the Pyrenees. Clinging to the hillside is just a cluster of charming old gray stone buildings weighted down with heavy slate roofs. Laura’s mother spent her childhood summers here in this remote valley with her grandparents—in the same farmhouse where her grandfather was born. She and her husband later moved to this idyllic hamlet, purchased the 200-year-old farmhouse and opened it as a small hotel and appealing small restaurant. The bedrooms are all simple, but extremely charming and in absolute keeping with the nature of the building. Happily, nothing is contrived or too cute. The walls are painted a fresh white, the floors are of pine, the ceilings have natural beams. The only decoration on the walls is a display of beautiful black-and-white photographs of the region, all taken by a local priest (now well up in his years) whose hobby was capturing on film the animals, people, and landscape he knows so well. The former sheep stable has been transformed into a cozy restaurant where stone walls and a low, beamed ceiling set a romantic stage. Along with the lovely mountain setting, it is this restaurant (featuring Catalan country-style cooking) that draws guests.