Remarkable lodging: they welcome pilgrims and guests passing through Chartres

You have to keep your eyes open to spot Maison JLN, rue Muret. A discreet scallop shell surmounts the door at the entrance to this 17th century house which first saw several generations of bakers pass, before the pilgrims it welcomes today.

Maison JLN – for Jean-Loup and Nathalie – belongs to Cuisiniez, who bought it in 1985. “In reality, there are several houses, on different levels, united in one. We did a lot of work, with the help of an architect. We have also made sure to reuse the materials present in the house. We were green before our time. It took four years before we could live there with our family, ”says Nathalie.

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The layout of the house has a lot to do with its conversion into guest rooms: “The different“ houses ”, the one for the guests and the private one, are well separated, with different staircases,” explains the hostess.

Private chapel

It was first “by chance, to help out” that the Cuisiniez couple began to welcome guests and in particular pilgrims on the road to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle, in 1989. Nathalie remembers: “To the At the time, there was no reception for pilgrims. It was by word of mouth that families welcomed travelers. »Since 1996, Maison JLN has become a fully-fledged guesthouse and joined the Chartres tourist office.

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Without losing its original purpose. The scallops hanging on the walls of the oratory remind visitors of this. Even before making a guest room, the family had converted this room, at the top of a spiral staircase, to the top floor, into a small private chapel, decorated with stained glass. At the back of the room is the room for travelers. “We have furnished the bedroom with two single beds, because people don’t necessarily travel as a couple. If they want to bring the beds together, they can. If they come with children, we add mattresses in the oratory. “

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But do not believe that Nathalie and Jean-Loup Cuisiniez are only targeting a niche Catholic clientele. The host denies it: “Me as a Catholic, I don’t care about people’s religion ?! On the contrary, it is the mixing that fascinates this couple, who master several foreign languages. Jean-Loup talks about six. We are even told that he learns a seventh. “Wealth is meeting other people. “And, for good reason, their clientele is mainly foreign, because” the French are late at bed and breakfast. ” In 1998, Maison JLN was also listed in the Sawday’s guide, the English reference for accommodation in France.

“Do good around us”

There is no question of giving in to the sirens of excessive globalization. At Maison JLN, reservations are made by telephone “for first contact”. Moreover, the wifi only works on demand and never at night. The bed and breakfast does not appear on online platforms because “feeding the monster doesn’t mean anything to me” according to Nathalie who has “other things to do than spend my Sunday evenings on Facebok”. She says: “Air BnB has killed mutual aid. “

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Maison JLN will therefore appeal to travelers who take the time to live and look around them. On a living room table sits a book by Cyril Dion, director of the film Tomorrow and champion of a new world in decline. Nathalie and Jean-Loup nourish “a lot of hope in the guest rooms. We hope to do good around us on our scale ”.