In Belgium, in Flanders - and "in Bruges". Which is a good way to start, as this charming pension had a brief role in the 2008 eponymous comedy noire starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. As anyone who has seen the film will know, Bruges (Brooger, if you're Flemish) is a gloriously picturesque city dating from the 12th century that somehow escaped destruction in either of the world wars. Gabled, 400-year-old Number 11 blends perfectly into the medieval metropolitan warp and weft: step out of the front door, turn right or left and you are instantly transported into one of Europe's foremost living museums, somewhere that renders Unesco's World Heritage Site proclamation superfluous. Number 11 is owned by Carine Destrooper-Deprez ("I fell in love with the house the first time I saw it"), whose husband, Patriek, owns Noble Chocolates and biscuit manufacturer Jules Destrooper.

There are just four bedrooms, each of a different design and size, but all with sturdy oak floors and the sort of home-away-from-home air that turns larger hostelries green with envy. On the ground floor, the Deluxe Suite is the biggest, with a private entrance and a romantically inclined double bath that could easily contain an amorous acrobatic couple. The Chocolate Room (top) - with a mouth-watering dark brown colour scheme and rafters plainly visible on the sloping walls - is up in the attic, as is the Grey-White room, which can sleep three. The suitably hued Vanilla Room occupies the first floor. The rooms are filled with period furniture and the beds covered in Egyptian cotton. Turndown is accompanied by a small box of Monsieur Destrooper's almond biscuits.

A full Flemish breakfast - cheese, fruit, yogurt, bacon, eggs in any fashion you care to name, freshly baked pastries and bread, and orange juice - gets the day off to a flying start, not least for its being served at a communal table in the stripped-pine salon, beneath a surreal painting by an artist who used to own the property. Guests are encouraged to help themselves to coffee and Zen tea during the day. For more substantial vittles, there are several hundred restaurants in walking/cycling distance.

Number 11's public areas are limited. Apart from the breakfast table and a couple of glittering chan-deliers, the salon hosts an inviting sofa, armchairs and an open fireplace - the blazing logs are more than welcome in winter. To the rear of the property lies a cheerful if slightly formal garden (below), much patronised in summertime.

Add a corny strapline and watch those tourist arrivals grow. So expect lengthy queues for the iconic 83-metre-high belfry, horse-and-carriage rides, trips along the canals and every other sort of - groan - must-see. Fortunately, just about everywhere in Bruges is worth seeing, with every street corner providing another photographic vista, and it's easy to escape the crowds. The best advice is to hire a bike (or head out on foot) and simply steer wherever curiosity leads you. Further afield, the coast is only an hour's drive away, with beaches stretching almost uninterrupted to Holland and France.

The Grey-White and Vanilla are the cheapest rooms, at €155 (HK$1,500) per night, while the Deluxe Suite costs €235 and Chocolate €175. All rates include breakfast, and guests are presented with a tin of Noble chocolates on checkout. For more information, browse www.number11.be.

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Number 11, Bruges

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