"Ou Est l'Hotel?"

Not long ago, the medieval village of Saint-Arcons-d'Allier was on its deathbed—it was partly abandoned, mostly overgrown with blackberry bushes, and as dormant as the volcanoes found in this Auvergne region of central France. Today, it's a different story. The village has come back to life, thanks to a sympathetic outsider who decided to build a hotel there. The property is neither a typical bed-and-breakfast nor a trendy health farm. Instead, it consists of 14 houses, which comprise the hotel's rooms and suites. The 9th century château is where you'll find the reception desk. And the beautiful cobbled streets are the hotel corridors. Guests live alongside a handful of the village's permanent residents.

Together, the hotel's houses and château are known as Les Deux Abbesses (lesdeuxabbesses.com)—named after Isabel and Gabrielle de Lafayette, two 16th century mothers superior (and ancestors of the Franco-American revolutionary, Marquis de Lafayette), who used Saint-Arcons-d'Allier as their summer retreat. They would be gratified to know that the village fulfils the same function today (the hotel is closed in winter), and relieved to hear that the original architecture has been respected. The rooms come appointed with antique Auvergnat furniture, Renaissance fireplaces, and even bread ovens. (If you would rather break bread than make it, candlelit dinners are served nightly in the château's wood-paneled dining room.)

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For owner Laurence Perceval Hermet, Les Deux Abbesses is the culmination of seven years' hard work. The onetime marketing executive in Paris was passing through Saint-Arcons-d'Allier in 1998 when she was struck by its underlying beauty and saw its potential. "I first rented some houses," she says, "and privately remodeled the interiors. Then I went ahead and bought some ruined ones and turned them into more hotel rooms."

Today, the village looks smarter than it ever has: where tractors once lay rusting, Ferraris and suvs now gleam, their owners ensconced in Les Deux Abbesses' luxurious embrace. "We have created a company that employs more than 20 workers, 90% of them local," says Hermet, "and we have worked toward the preservation of rural architecture." Along the way, they may also have created a blueprint for many other rural villages to follow.