A week in the Loire 3: Glorious gardens

Sometimes it is difficult to separate chateaux from their gardens. In the case of Villandry we went only for the gardens. For the garden of La Chationnier that is all they allow anyway.

Villandry is a very formal setting with several distinct gardens. On our last visit a lot of the seasonal gardens had recently been replanted. This time we got then at their best. We had a beautiful day for it weatherwise, as well.

Probably the most well known parts are the Vegetable Garden where different vegetables are used to fill the geometric patterns, all interspersed with standard roses and bordered with espaliered fruit trees. Who ever knew that a bed of red lettuce could look so good or that spiky artichokes look so decorative.

Vegetable Garden and standard roses The Ornamental Garden Hedges and lavender

Vegetable garden with artichokes and lettuce The Water garden The Herb Garden (the herbs are in semi-circles off the path)

Some of the flowers here were stunning in themselves

Roses on a bower Lavender spikes

Paeony in the Sun Garden Massive poppy

The gardens at La Chationniere tended to have more emphasis on the less formal gardens. Again, they were divided into “rooms” with the leaf shaped garden being most like the kitchen garden at Villandry, using vegetables to fill the spaces in low box hedge enclosures. There were banks of roses, often in floribunda types which changed colour as they aged, maybe from gold to apricot to cream, and a stunning “Lovers Walk” an osier framework on which climbing roses grew. You could walk through the archways and tunnels created to little private spaces.

The osier walk from the inside. Osiers are willow cuttings interwoven, but they strike and grow a green fence or trellis Leaf Garden with rose bank and topped by the Rose Walk The Garden of France, a field of poppies and cornflowers Unusual purple roses Huge clematis

Roses over the osier made the Lovers Garden walk View from the rose walk down on the Leaf Garden Roses overhang a door in the Garden of the Senses Through the Garden of Sciences (herbs)

And my favourite picture, the Garden of the Senses against the wall of the chateau. Photo made with three vertical shots stitched together

Next blog entry: Some of the coastline and fishing villages of Brittany

A week in the Loire 2: Un château ou deux

Of course one of the main reasons for visiting near the Loire is to see a number of the chateaux. On previous visits we managed to see Chenonceau, Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau and Montsoreau.We would have seen more had Nick not been ill last visit, so we decided to make the effort to see a number of new ones. The selection is eclectic and there were no particular reasons for the choices except they were places we though might be interesting.

Chambord was high on my list, along with a revisit to Villandry’s gardens. Nick wanted to see Cheverny as it had been in one family for generations so there was a continuity of history. We were recommended Montresor and chose to revisit Azay-le-Rideau as Nick had little recollection of seeing it last time. Loches has already been mentioned in the previous post and Villandry gardens will be discussed in the next post on gardens, so here are some photos and impressions. I rarely took indoor photos, generally  finding the exterior architecture more interesting.

Chambord is huge. Chambord is a folly in the grand manner but at the same time the way it fits together has immense logic and great planning, with a central keep around a double helix staircase, enormous public rooms around the stairs and more private rooms in the corners of the keep which opened off the central spaces. Wings were added too and the whole interior space surrounded by curtain walls which held service rooms such as kitchens. It was never intended to be a permanent residence and most of the time was empty. As our host said, “They put in the furniture for the tourists. The king travelled with his furniture.”

I just love the size and delight in the “over the top” architecture of the place. I mourn the loss of the parterre garden in the front. The gem has little in the way of a setting now.

Chambord from across its moat What would have been the carriage entrance

This place is huge One tower of the keep with its insane roofline

We found the video presentation most useful architecturally and historically and it would be best to see it before seeing the various rooms.

Cheverny has a long family history. Our sons are also aware that the central part was used as the model for Marlinspike manor, the home of Captain Haddock from the Tintin comic books. There was reference to this in the house and also in an exhibition. There are extensive stretches of beautiful lawn and trees and an orangerie and pretty garden out the back. The front is severe and the forecourt is gravel. The family also hunts stags and boar, so they have a kennel of huge hounds which I found scary.

Cheverny facade And the yard went on forever

Cheverny from the arbour at the rear The hounds with their distinctive shaved mark on the flank

In the interior the ceilings were often intricately painted across the supporting timbers and some of the furniture was very old. The chest of drawers for instance, was one of the first that replaced trunks as containers for clothes.

And then the Tintin reference was brilliantly displayed on an actual wall of the outbuildings. I love the cat in the window.

We drove past, but did not visit, Montpupon, though I thought it an elegant chateau. It has a big emphasis on hunting which did not particularly interest us.

Montpupon

The chateau of Montresor was a favourite of our host, so we paid it a visit. It had an interesting past, having been built as a stronghold by Foulques il Nerra and lived in by his Captain, whose family memorial is in the corner of the collegiate church in the village.

Part of the castle is in ruins but much of the interior of the more modern part reflects its purchase by a Polish count in the Second Empire Naploeonic era. Obviously a wealthy and influential man, the family married into nobility in France and his descendants are still at the chateau, though in private quarters. Much of the interior dates from that time and is rather “lived in” which makes it a more genuine experience, with pictures of the family, decorations such as the Legion d’Honneur and stags heads in the hall that were as recent as 2000.

The older parts of Montresor with the spire of the collegiate church and lots of roses

The internal mahogany staircase is stunning

Externally there are double defensive curtain walls and a walk between them leading to lovely viewpoints. The garden tends to be less formal with a profusion of roses and huge trees, making it difficult to photograph the chateau itself.

Captain, wife, son and eight other family members lie in the tomb in the collegial church

We made a return visit to Azay-le-Rideau. Such a pretty building in a gorgeous setting but this visit wasn’t as I remembered the chateau. They were making repairs to part of the front and doing something in the moat that necessitated draining most of the water, leaving blotches of sand sticking up. It rather looked like a bridge to the chateau except there was no door for it to go to. There is to be some type of night festivities there so perhaps it was in preparation for that. Plus it was horribly windy and the surface of the water was covered in detritus from the trees. So my picture perfect chateau wasn’t there this time.

In addition, it turned out to be a French holiday, Ascension, so the crowds were thick, making it difficult to move through the rooms. We had been refused an audio-guide as “the group coming needs them” so we found it rather difficult to make much sense of the chronology. The groups in the rooms were not using audio-guides but but live guides speaking French, so we couldn’t even eavesdrop. We left feeling royally pee’d off.

A week in the Loire, 1: Loping around Loches

After the rather frantic relocations of the past week, it was lovely to think of settling in one place from Saturday to Saturday. The Loire area was one we had visited twice before but of course last time in Chinon Nick was recovering from pneumonia and even if we saw things, he doesn’t remember too clearly. He was one sick bunny

The drive from Mosnac was lengthy so we stopped at just one church, the Romanesque St Pierre in Aulnay. Situated in a graveyard dating well back, it is in pretty good repair. I remarked the carving on the front of St Peter being crucified upside down, with the soldiers appearing to work very energetically. Inside, the church has typically robust columns and a vaulted nave. It is lovely to consider that Christian worship has continued here for centuries, despite wars of religion and politics.

Nave	Crucifixion of St Peter

Sometimes travel brings a few surprises, like this roundabout on our way. No, I have no idea what it signifies but it was big.

Hand and cars at roundabout

The town we chose this time was Loches, a citadel with two castles, a severe donjon and a prettier Renaissance chateau, the Logis Royal, all embedded in a walled area and situated on the Indre River. The town within the walls is beautiful, with pedestrian streets, numerous ornamented gates and up in the citadel area some pretty houses with gardens and gates that I long to live in. Sigh!!!

The Cordeillers gate and Logis Royal behind Can I have this one please? A house inside the citadel walls.

Gate and square. The markets are held here and further throughout the town.

Our accommodation at the gite at the Logis du Bief was a little hard to find from the street, but was delightfully situated just below the citadel on the mill pond of the Indre, so our back terrace was right on the river and also opened onto the terrace of the associated B&B. Our hosts were the delightful Moha and Jean Claude, who loved to fuss over us and had made a delightful little home for our week’s stay. Two bed rooms and a bathroom upstairs and a small kitchen and living/dining downstairs with the terrace. Lots of antiquities as they call them here in France, in the furniture and paintings

Our accommodation from across the river. The orange umbrella is our terrace

With advice from Jean Claude we soon found the supermarket to buy essentials. Love French supermarkets: they have a proper butcher who cuts to order, a proper deli section that cuts to order, including marvellous pates, terrines and cheeses. A fresh fish section, but only if the fishermen have been out the day before, their own bakery for baguettes, and a very comprehensive wine section. On Wednesday we shopped at a marvellous market (also on Saturdays). Great meat, sausage, cheese, smallgoods, wine as well as the clothing and shoes sections. We got white asparagus and stuffed canelloni in different flavours. I cooked three dinners at home.
The first night we found the Gerbe d’Or (Golden Wheat Sheaf) on JC’s recommendation and had a stunning meal on the terrace under the wisteria. Just one course, mine a plump chicken breast on four, fat, white asparagus spears with a cream sauce with truffle scents. Nick had tournedos rossini with real foie gras on the top. We drank rose. Heaven! We returned with another couple later in the week and had a similarly delicious experience.
The next day we had breakfast on the deck and then explored the citadel of Loches itself. It was Sunday and also French Mothers’ Day, so there was a well attended mass in the church followed by two baptisms. It was interesting that most of the attendees at the baptism wore white, a nice touch I thought. (Or maybe that was for Mothers’ Day)

The church of St Ours with its curious pointed pyramids over the nave

The Renaissance Chateau is mostly about Agnes Sorel who was the first woman to be named as “Official King’s Mistress” and who died at 30 from what now appears to be mercury poisoning. Maybe used as a medicine for her ascaris infection (Erk! ascaris is from infected pork and those worms are BIG) or to aid in prolonged childbirth, or maybe… Her grave and memorial are now in the citadel church of St Ours, moved there quite recently from the Logis Royal and is where she wanted to lie. I love the gentle look on the face of the angels at the corners. She was regarded as a great beauty and several portraits show her as such.

Logis Royal Roofs of the town from the citadel and the Tower of St Antoine The tomb of Agnes Sorel in St Ours

Dog on the steps of the Logis Royal commemorate hunting dogs Annunciation  painting in the Logis Royal

This was also the chateau at which Jean d’Arc persuaded the Dauphin to go to Paris and be crowned king, so a fairly important place. It looks out over the roofs of the town and is surrounded by lovely gardens and roses. You walk through them to reach the donjon which is massive, solid, tall, but surrounded by small gardens and defensive walls, a legacy of changing use over time. It was certainly defensive, some of the walls being five feet thick and it was also used as a prison as some of the scratched graffiti attest.

The donjon Lavender at the foot of the donjon

Prisoner graffiti Roses in the citadel

That afternoon we also visited a local town, Chedigny, which was having a rose festival. Now the roses in France are just amazing. They bloom out of apparent solid concrete. They climb walls. They decorate roundabouts. They cover doorways. And they bloom with abundance, profusion and generosity. My favourites are the David Austin roses, tight and double, usually fragrant.

Roses on the wall at Loches Massed climbing roses, Chedigny

Rose festival at Chedigny

The festival was very crowded, even late in the afternoon. People were buying roses but the town also had its own profusion. A sweet excursion.
And the best of all is the pink climber that fades to cream and is so heavy its heads hang downwards.



Next episode: Chateaux; from the marvellous to the mad