A short stay in the Loire Valley

Today our major visit was to the gardens of Chateau de Villandry. This late renaissance castle is most famous for the gardens that have been restored by the now owners, the Carvallo family. We enjoyed the interior of the castle, but we were eager to explore the garden, and were soon walking outside, with wonderful views of the Garden of Love with its box hedges planted with flowering plants and across to the Ornamental Kitchen Garden.

 

 The route took us along the elevated promenade through woodland, to the water garden and the newly created Jardin du Soleil. Only then did we descend through the herb garden towards the kitchen garden to view the amazing beds. What a wonderful place.




Lunch was booked in the village of Azay-le-Rideau and we were a bit late so found it difficult to park. Eventually we left the car in a coach parking place, like several other drivers, and with fingers crossed headed off to the little restaurant. We had the set lunch with soft drinks, sitting in the shade of parasols, but it was a bit dangerous as the wind had got up and one of the brollies decided to try and take off.

Our next chateau was just through the gates ahead of us, and soon we were walking into the chateau grounds. The Chateau Azay-le-Rideau is famous for it's reflection in the lake, but as it has been so dry in this area, the lake was rather low and plenty of weed was flourishing in it. This is owned by the French National Trust equivalent, but they haven't quite got it as well furnished as some of the other Chateaux.

We didn't linger too long and returned to Amboise in time to stroll through the town and by some biscuits from the ' biscuiterie' to take home. It was very busy in the town as Ascension day is a public holiday in France. Back at Le Pavillon we started the packing. There was a phone call and when I answered the caller asked if we were having dinner-it was all in French, and I thought he meant at L' Epicerie where River Loire had booked us a table, so I said that we were. When Alan went down later there seemed to have been a huge misunderstanding: they thought we were having dinner at le Pavillon, although the restaurant had not been open in the evening while we had been staying. But tonight all the tables were set outside for dinner. After a strange conversation, eventually Alan got the message across that we were dining elsewhere. They kept asking for our voucher, but that was for L'Epicerie.

So we set off for the restaurant and were very glad to have a table booked as it was jammed in Amboise. We had a tasty if rather slow dinner, then strolled back to Le Pavillon for our last night in Amboise.