The Hostellerie de l'Abbaye de la Celle hosts seminars, business meals, private receptions and weddings, with up to 50 people in its vaulted chapter house, 140 seated on its shaded terrace and up to 180 for an outdoor cocktail. The five-star hotel, part of Ducasse Hospitalité, stands on Place du Général de Gaulle in La Celle, a village of the Var near Brignoles, and its spaces can be hired in part or in full.
Seminars and company events
The hotel sells day meetings and residential seminars, with lodging for teams in its 10 rooms and suites. Meetings take place in the chapter house, the restaurant spaces or outdoors. The terrace hosts working sessions, business lunches, cocktails and breaks, and the 2.5-hectare park and the vines of the appellation's grape conservatory are also used for group work in the open air.
For team building, the hotel offers cooking workshops with the restaurant team, yoga sessions and massages on request. Groups can visit the neighboring Abbaye de La Celle, a listed historic monument and an example of 12th-century Romanesque architecture. The 18-hole Golf de Barbaroux, a few kilometers away, offers lessons for beginners and players. Next door, the Maison des Vins des Coteaux Varois en Provence runs tastings of the appellation's wines.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings can run from the evening before to the lunch the day after, using the salons, the terrace, the park of chestnut, lime and olive trees, and even the vineyard. Guests can stay in the hotel's rooms and suites, and meals are cooked by the restaurant team.
Rooms and capacities
The chapter house, with preserved vaults and columns, takes 50 for a cocktail, 50 in theatre style, 28 for a boardroom meeting, 20 in a U and 46 for a seated meal. The restaurant and veranda together hold 100 for a cocktail, 70 for a seated meal or 18 for a meeting. They include the main dining room, a wood-paneled salon for small groups and a bright wrought-iron veranda. The shaded terrace, under cypresses, chestnut and lime trees, seats 140 for a meal and holds 60 for a cocktail, or up to 180 when extra furniture is rented.
Accommodation
The hotel has 10 rooms and suites in two buildings: two suites, two junior suites, three superior rooms and three standard rooms. Each is named after a prioress of the abbey, which housed nuns until the Revolution. Breakfast is made to order with local and organic produce. Facilities include an outdoor pool open from May to September, a pétanque pitch, bicycles, a babysitting service on request and electric vehicle charging points. In low season, from September to June, the hotel opens from Thursday to Monday.
Catering
The gastronomic restaurant is led by chef Nicolas Pierantoni, who grew up in La Celle. His cooking follows the seasons and local growers, with herbs, vegetables and fruit from the hotel's kitchen garden, laid out on three levels, and its orchard. The wine list focuses on Provence producers.
History and setting
The hotel occupies an 18th-century inn next to a former Benedictine abbey founded in the 12th century. Alain Ducasse took over the house in 1999 and furnished the rooms with objects from his own collection. The village sits among vines, cypresses and old olive trees in the Coteaux Varois en Provence, where an adjoining plot keeps 88 grape varieties.
Getting there
Aix-en-Provence TGV station is about 45 minutes away and Marseille station about 55 minutes. Toulon-Hyères Airport is about 45 minutes away, Marseille Provence Airport 55 minutes and Nice Airport 1 hour 10 minutes. By road, take exit 35 of the A8 toward Brignoles, 3 kilometers from the village, or exit 10 of the A57 from Toulon. The hotel has private, closed parking, and arrival by helicopter can be arranged.
