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One of the standout B&Bs in all of California (for that matter the entire U.S.), the lavish Château du Sureau is as close as you get to Europe on the west side of the Atlantic. A world away from the rest of Oakhurst, the 9,000-square-foot inn has an elegant, near-magical ambience to it (which you pay for in spades), radiating from the villa that houses the stylish, uniquely decorated guest rooms, such as the extraordinary Saffron Room with a king-size ebony and ivory bedroom set from 1834, and the Sweet Geranium Room, with a private balcony overlooking sumptuous gardens and a canopied king. There are details both rustic (fresh fruit and fireplaces) and modern (CD players), and scads of impressive objects of art around every corner. The grounds here are similarly phenomenal -- featuring a lawn-size chessboard with 3-foot-high pawns! -- and the restaurant, Erna's Elderberry House, is sublime.

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