Sunday morning after croissants and tea we packed Pablo and said goodbye to Céline whose hospitality had been truly wonderful. She is really an inspiration, having run this farm since she was in her early twenties. She spent some time detailing the history of the house (built in the 1860s) and we went down to the cellar that contains not only her wine and preserved fruit but a wealth of history with writing on the walls from during the German occupation and before.
Once again we were struck by the contrast between our respective countries and particularly their history. The world wars for most Australians happened thousands of miles from our shores but in this part of France every single local was affected in some way.
Hitting the road in the late morning we programmed the GPS, aka “Jeanette”, to steer us toward Blois in the Loire Valley.
The Loire had seen unseasonally high rainfall about a month previously with significant flooding in many areas and cool wet conditions still prevailing.
After about four hours ( and 43 euro worth of tolls) we left the motorway and wound through Blois to find Closerie Falaiseau, a gorgeous 500 year old gîte that was to be home for the next four nights.
This beautiful property is actually owned by an Aussie lady and her French husband and they have done an excellent job of restoring it! They actually live here except for the busy tourist months when they rent it out to lucky guests and they go on holidays themselves.
It is so well appointed, spacious and historic!
The late night before was starting to catch up with us and we headed down the road to a lovely restaurant – L'Embarcadère – overlooking the (still very high) Loire River for dinner, which turned out to be excellent. I can recommend the duck and the local Cabernet franc.
Post dinner the discussion revolved around which chateau to visit the next day and whether we needed to set the alarm ( of course not!)
So, the Chateau…. Of course the Loire Valley is famous for its chateaux and we were spoiled for choice but after a fairly leisurely start to the morning ( we ARE on holidays) we decided to hit Chambord today.
Château de Chambord
We were expecting crowds in July and whilst very busy, it was much better than I had expected. The first sight of the turrets was awesome despite the ubiquitous scaffolding and the bloody tractor in the foreground!
We spent several hours discovering the interior of the castle – some of which is furnished and other rooms are largely empty but the whole building is stunning.
A very informative audio visual display detailed the succession of owners the castle has had and told us that it was left to ruin after the French Revolution but was eventually purchased by the state.
The money required for upkeep must be phenomenal but is certainly worth it.
Spoiler alert right here…. The next few days will heavily feature chateaux I suspect so if you suffer from castle phobia, look away now…..
Tomorrow… probably simply more of the same 🙂
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