A short stay in the Loire Valley

Our last delicious breakfast at Le Pavillon, then we collected our bags and said goodbye, only to have one of the staff come running after us to pay for last night's dinner, which we didn't have. Much apologising for the misunderstanding, then we were off to visit some more châteaux.

Our plan was to go first to Chambord, and we had a good route on our map as well as some marvellous instructions from Thierry, River Loire. As we got nearer there were more cars heading in the same direction and it was going to be busy. Then we started seeing signs: 'Chambord en grève'. Hmmm, didn't that mean 'on strike'? Yes, it did, and when we got there we could walk down to the castle, but there was no going inside. So we took lots of external photos, looked at the strikers, and then decided to visit the little church, which was open. Lots of people were doing the same, but at last the message was getting around and no more buses were arriving, and so fewer people, too. 

Nothing for it but to move on, and we made our way along country roads to Max Vauché, the chocolaterie in Bracieux. They make amazing chocolate sculptures as well as some truffles etc. The smell was fabulous, and we were tempted into buying some nougat and chocolate covered nuts to nibble.

But now we needed to move on to Cheverny, Tintin's castle, and as we thought, they were rather busier than usual with many of the visitors to Chambord finding their way to Cheverny instead. We were very lucky to find a parking space as someone was already leaving, and then we walked down to join the queue to buy entrance tickets. It was a long, hot and slow job, but finally we were in and decided coffee first, castle second. Everywhere was busy so it made no difference. The coffee was good and then we joined the queue to go into the château. It was beautifully presented and we went upstairs, too, taking non-flash photos when it wasn't too busy. After going around thew castle we walked across to the Tintin exhibition in the stables, which was fun, and also visited the hunting hounds and the garden. Cheverny was lovely - it is the middle part of the castle that was Hergé's inspiration for Moulinsart (Marlinspike Hall).

Now we had to head off to Tours, to St Pierre-des-Corps station, where we would leave the car, then took a taxi to the BW Central Hotel. We had the same room as we did at the start of the holiday! Dinner at Le Touron, close to Au Lapin qui Fumé, was excellent, then we strolled back to the hotel for our last night.

Chambord

Max Vauché

Cheverny

Tintin and on facebook:

Central Hotel

Le Touron

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.