Chenonceau and Chambord

After our stay in Villandry we had booked a few days in an Airbnb in a village called Oucques La Nouvelle, a little away from the tourist hot spots of the Loire valley. On the way to Oucques we visited one of the chateau that would definitely be classed as a tourist hot spot: Chenonceau.

Chenonceau is considered to be one of the prettiest of the Loire Valley chateau. It sits on the river Cher and was first built as a renaissance style palace in 1512. Its history, collections and archiectural development are credited to five wealthly and powerful women, Catherine Briconnet, Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medici,  Louise Dupin and Madame Pelouze. 

As well as entry to the interior of the chateau the admission ticket provides visitors access to the formal gardens, riverside walks, a 17th century farm, an old wine cellar, an apocathery and collection of old scientific instruments - and a donkey park.

The weather forecast predicted showers but we arrived in dry weather and before visiting the inside of the chateau we walked around the formal gardens. These, like those we saw at Villandry, were gardens with gravel and low box hedges and bedding plants all in geometric patterns. To be honest I found this a bit sterile

The formal gardens

Chenonceau selfie

Before it got too crowded we headed inside and followed a route from room to room and floor to floor. As a royal residence it was appropriately opulent, but what was unexpected is the collection of art. There are paintings by Rubens, Tintoretto, Murillo and large tapestries with incredibly detailed designs. As well as the art there are bedchambers and, most notably, the long gallery built by Catherine de Medici which spans the River Cher.

The Long Gallery

Part of the way around the tour we went out of the Long Gallery and walked along the riverside path to get a better view of the exterior. This feature, added in 1556-59 is unusual in that it spans the entire width of the river, supported by four full arches, and reminded me a little of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence or closer to home, the Pulteney Bridge in Bath.

The 'extension' added in 1559

Once we had finished our tour of the inside we started to look at the other parts of the estate. In a long outbuilding (that also housed a cafe) was the estate wine cellar and two exhibitions. One shows a collection of old scientific intruments and another is a rather beautiful apocathery built by Catherine De Medici. 

The wine cellar

The apocathery

After a bite to eat we walked through the 17th century farm taking refuge  from a sudden, but thankfully short lived downpour and then the vegetable garden where I gave some fuss to the resident cat. We finished our visit with a walk to the donkey park. I'm not sure quite why Chenonceau has a donkey park but as I like donkeys it was fun to go and say hello to the small group and give one of them a good scratch behind the ear before the rain returned and they took shelter and we dashed back to the car.

We had a bit of time to spare before we could check into our accomodation. Heading north across the Loire we made a brief detour to the town of Amboise. This town has a chateau set on a hill above the main street and is most famous as the place where Leonardo da Vinci spent his final years as a guest of the king, Francis l. He moved in with his baggage and three paintings, one of which was the Mona Lisa. We walked up the main street of Amboise and up a steep flight of steps to see a panoramic view of the town before circling back down. I had time to nip into a patisserie before we left to buy a pitaschio millefeuille. 

Amboise

Having stayed in rustic accomodation in Villandry, our Airbnb in Oucques was a complete contrast. An outbuilding of the owners home had been converted into a 2 bedroomed home, and had electric window shutters, superfast wifi, a fully equipped kitchen with top of the range appliances and a comfy king sized bed. All sat in a large garden. We settled in enjoying the space and modern coveniences.

The next morning I made a trip to the boulangerie, just a 3 minute walk from our temporary home and came back with croissants and a pain au raisin for Mrs B - which made for a lovely breakfast. We decided to take a break from chateau and instead headed off with our stomachs full of pastry and coffee to see the nearby town of Vendôme. The landscape had changed in character. This was clearly farming country and very flat with vast fields of cereal and other crops stretching away into the distance, pierced by clumps of woodland and arrow straight roads.  

One of the things we'd learnt about French towns was that shop keepers hours were a little unpredictable. In Vendôme there had clearly been a unilateral decision not to open on a Monday. When we walked through the town it was very quiet and apart from a couple of bars, a pharmacist and a bookshop everything else was closed. As a consequence there were very few people around and it was very quiet. This wasn't immediately apparent when we arrived. Parking near the base of a cliff we started to explore by climbing up a steep lane to a small park with flower beds and trees. This was the site of the chateau that has now vanished - apart from a solitary tower and ramparts that overlook the town. It was a good a vantage point to see the town but only when we descended did we discover a distinct lack of Monday morning hustle and bustle. Walking through the almost empty streets we turned a corner to find the frontage of an unexpectedly impressive gothic church - all flying buttresses and ornate stone carvings. 

Vendôme has a river running through it - the River Loir. This isn't a spelling mistake. There's a river Loir and Loire. The Loir is a much smaller river and the town has some pretty landscaped gardens and grand houses that overlook the river. I'm sure there's more to see in the town but with nothing much open we concluded that we should find a supermarket and get some ingredients to make lunch back at our accomodation.  

Vendôme's gothic church

The Loir

After lunch we ventured out again - this time to the city of Blois - which sits right on the banks of the Loire. More by accident than design we ended up parking right by the cathedral. We had a quick look inside before walking through to some gardens that overlook the river and the old city. 

From there we walked downhill, with no particular destination in mind, through streets lined with timber framed and stone buildings. Blois is another city that has historic and royal connections and its most prominent building is a large renaissance era chateau, once the home of the French king Louis XII. 

One of the timbered houses in Blois

Blois chateau

Having decided to have a day off from visiting chateau we skipped a visit and took shelter from a sudden shower under a row of trees in the Place du Château - a central square lined with grand houses on one side and views out to the Loire on the other. One of the houses was a little curious. Called the House of Magic it was a visitor attraction all about the art of illusion - but what made it remarkable were the animatronic dragon heads appearing out of the windows. Watching this spectacle made for an amusing diversion whilst we waited for the shower to pass.

After a day off from visiting chateau we resumed our Loire valley chateau explorations the following morning by visiting the 'big daddy' of royal homes: Chambord. Built as a royal hunting lodge between 1519 and 1547 Chambord is massive. It has 400 rooms, a fireplace for every day of the year and sits in an estate of woods and a game reserve with deer and wild boar surrounded by a 20 mile long wall.

Chambord

The spiral staircase

A royal bedroom

The building itself has a central keep surrounded by an outer wall and buildings that lead into a courtyard. The stand out architectural feature is a double spiral stone staircase right in the centre that leads to various floors with different suites of apartments. Around the edge of the keep are single spiral staircases and the whole building is a complete maze of corridors and rooms. We opted for the self guided tour and worked our way from top to bottom. It was a true rabbit warren of a building - with so many corridors and hidden rooms. It was relatively sparesly furnished - in keeping with how it was used in its early days. The royalty that built Chambord only used it on a temporary basis so most furniture was designed to be folded up or taken apart to be moved on to the next royal residence as the king and courtiers moved on. 

After a marathon session of visiting all the rooms - with some back tracking and detours - we popped back out into the courtyard. After another 'sandwich' - i.e. a whole filled baguette, it was time to walk into the grounds starting with a riverside walk. The river that flows past Chambord is the Cosson and a combined foot and cycle path leads away from the chateau, hugging the bank of the river. We passed by marshland and then woodland before reaching a bridge from which there was a distant view of Chambord. Returning on the opposite bank we spotted dozens of dragonflies and from the adjoining woodland there was birdsong and the chirruping of crickets in the grass. After the crowds of the chateau this was very peaceful.

We arrived back at the chateau and to finish our visit had a quick tour around the formal gardens. These were underwhelming compared to other gardens we had seen and it had become very warm and so we concluded our visit seeking cool in the car with the air con doing its job.

Before returning to our Airbnb we made short drive further south to the edge of the town of Bracieux. The reason for this: a chocolate maker, Chocolaterie Max Vauché. The chocolate production takes place in a small low rise building linked to a shop. They provide tours but we decided just to have a look around the shop and possibly purchase a treat or two. It was lovely and cool inside and we were the only customers - so the staff offered us samples. They make many different types of chocolate and its very good quality so we were happy to nibble on the plentiful supply of samples before I treated Mrs B to some chocolate to take away. Whilst Mrs B was browsing I had a look at an exhibition of chocolate scultures in the adjoining room to the shop - which included a life size chocolate car!

Mrs B - a woman on a mission...

Chocolate sculpture...

With our supply of chocolate kept in a cool place we set off back to our accommodation and prepared to pack up once more. We were moving on again the next morning, headed towards our last stop in the Loire Valley a village just outside the hilltop town of Sancerre, famous for vinyards and cheesemakers.