Even better in real life – the magnificent Maison Jazey

Continuing the series of posts about places we've visited and reviewed on Google Maps, but which have never been posted to this blog, my next post is about an exceptional place on France. I don't know how I found tiny Semur-en-Auxois, and then the magnificent Maison Jazey, from Australia months before we went there, but I'm glad I did. It's one of those places that looks fabulous online, and then turns out to be even better in real life.

We discovered Maison Jazey at the end of a trip that included a cruise up the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel, when we spent a week and a half in Northern Burgundy before a finale in London. There have been a few exceptional places like Maison Jazey – our first ever (and possibly almost our last) Air BnB in Vaison-la-Romaine in Provence in France, a Landmark Trust gatehouse in Saddell on the Kintyre Peninsula on the West Coast of Scotland and a National Trust stone fishing cottage in Port Quinn on the West Cornish coast – but not many. They are places you remember – again and again – forever.

The magnificent Maison Jazey.

‘It's a beautiful apartment in a beautiful building in a beautiful town, not much more than an hour by car to all the sights of Burgundy,’

The hosts were terrific and very welcoming. It was like living in a very liveable museum or your very own chateau. The place is extremely roomy, with high windows with shutters, filled with light, and warm. The kitchen is terrific and the parquetry floors – a personal favourite of mine – are amazing. We stayed nine days and could easily have stayed longer.

 

Like living in a very comfortable art gallery or museum.

Beautiful apartment in a beautiful building in a beautiful town
It's a beautiful apartment in a beautiful building in a beautiful town, not much more than an hour by car to all the sights of Burgundy (and many are only twenty minutes away). On top of that there are lots of places in walking distance in the town. There are some high quality shops (I still have a substantial belt that was cut to length as I stood in the shop) and a very reasonably priced Michelin-starred restaurant, La Fontaignotte, which was exceptional and had magnificent views from its terrace.

'The Romans decided they could move from the hill fortress to the plain since once they had defeated everybody, there were no threats to guard against.' 

View of vegetable gardens and the river valley from Michelin-starred restaurant, La Fontaignotte.

It was a real treat in a part of Burgundy where we hadn’t previously been. Dijon was a revelation and after we came back I was reading about its first class art museum and exclaimed ‘I wish we had seen that’, then realised we had, we’ve seen every corner of it it for hours and hours. It was exceptional.

Interior of Maison Jazey – the dining room with the parquetry floor that was throughout the apartment.

Rediscovering France – and French

Northern Burgundy seems to be close to everything. We drove to the ancient Celtic hill fortress of Bibracte, the site where, after defeating the Gauls, Julius Caesar wrote his book, The Gallic Wars. Then we headed down the hill to the site of what became the Roman capital of the region, Autun. The Romans decided they could move from the hill fortress to the plain since once they had defeated everybody, there were no threats to guard against. We bought a top notch locally made umbrella there and it is still doing its job back in Australia.

Walking through the medieval quarter of Semur-en-Auxois in the rain. 

I also had the chance to rediscover my French, especially in the tiny, well-stocked shop next door to our chateau. I studied the language for six years in high schooI in Tasmania, so I did pick up quite a bit (J’ai étudié le Francais pendant six ans a l’ecole). I realisd though that while I read French reasonably well and speak a limited amount of French reasonably fine, I understand spoken French badly – there’s just too many words at once. My education was good, but it didn’t prepare me as well as I would have liked. Still, practice makes perfect.

© Stephen Cassidy 2025

See also

Echoes of Tasmania on the island to the North – chilling out in summer in the Snowy Mountains
‘Continuing the series of posts about places we've visited and reviewed on Google Maps, but which have never been posted to this blog, my next post is about a location a mere two and a half hours from Canberra. The Snowy Mountains are one of the best reasons to live in the national capital. We've been there more times than I can count. I've reviewed some of our favourite places, but have yet to add a few more, even though we've been to them numerous times. Thredbo is an obvious drawcard, but there are many lesser known spots, like Tinkersfield, on the way to Thredbo, for accommodation, and Wild Brumby Schnapps Distillery for terrific food and drink (some of which they distill themselves). It's as close to the centre of Tasmania, where I grew up, between Cradle Mountain National Park and Lake St Clair,’ Echoes of Tasmania on the island to the North – chilling out in summer in the Snowy Mountains.

The short road to Sydney – out and about in Surry Hills and Bowral
‘Continuing the series of posts about places we've visited and reviewed on Google Maps, but which have never been posted to this blog, my next post is about Sydney and the Southern Highlands. Given Canberra is increasingly moving closer to Sydney – it used to take four and a half hours to drive to Sydney and it’s now down to three hours, door to door, we have developed a habit of recent decades of driving to Sydney for wild times (more recently, mild times), followed by a wind down in the Southern Highlands on the way home. This means that posts about both places often sit well together, even of the visits are always at the same time’, The short road to Sydney – out and about in Surry Hills and Bowral.

Moss Manor – on a rise above Moss Vale

‘Continuing the series of posts about places we've visits and reviewed on Google Maps, but which have never been posted to this blog, my next post is about a relatively new place to stay in Moss Vale. Moss Manor was a newly-discovered place for us, even though we have been visiting Moss Vale for years. It only opened the year before we visited. It was very impressive and a great addition to the Southern Highlands. We had a fantastic time utilising a special offer on a three day break from daily life. Even though, now they are established, the special offer seems to have ceased and we can't afford to go back, it's extremely high quality and highly recommended’, Moss Manor – on a rise above Moss Vale.