It started out innocently
Just an off the cuff comment to a friend over Skype …. I really wish we could get together and catch up in PERSON – over delicious wine and food.
Once I’d said it the idea took hold … we could not get the idea of a French getaway together out of our mind.
Travel for me is about making new friends as well as seeing the sights. And now, at the right old age of sixty-one I am lucky enough to have friends all over the world, sadly I do not see them enough.
So planning a getaway together is something special. Before I go on, my friend and I have done a lot of travelling together over the years – we know we are compatible – but this time there is a new equation in the loop – her daughter of twenty something.
It took us a few calls to organise the break, but VOILÁ we turned the dream into a reality last week.
Why did we go to the Loire Valley (or Val de Loire, as the French say)? We both love a road trip, and we ADORE history and gardens – given the Loire’s reputation as an enchanted land of fairytale castles (they are called chateaux in France) – no more perfect a location could we chose.
And we can say is a BIG THANK YOU to those impressive cast of renaissance men and women – from culturally minded Francis I, bewitching Diana de Poitiers to bombastic Louis XIV who made the region their playground and built the most fantastic array of stately houses probably in the world.
There is something about the white limestone rock that turns a pretty ordinary castles into something spectacular – and we are talking FANTASTIC design – turrets, keeps, circular stairways, moats and all those essential ingredients of fairytale castles.
Good thing too we had my friend’s daughter with us – She may be twenty something, but she knows her way around a castle – drawbridges, locked towers, grim dungeons, royal balls, fairy godmothers, lost slippers and occasionally princes disguised as frogs. While defeated in our quest to find Rapunzel we had a whole lot of fun exploring those turrets and keeps just in case she was hidden somewhere.
What we did find though were truly enchanting views of the Château de Chenonceau, whose two-storey bridge over the Cher is one of the emblematic images of the region. Mary Queen of Scots was a visitor here and her bodyguards left graffiti in English: The ire of man workest not the justice of God was still just legible in the plasterwork of the chapel. At that moment, I definitely felt the eerie breath of history on my neck.
We glimpsed inside fantastical graceful chateau like Chateau de Cheverny, filled with treasurers galore and looking like at any minute we may be invited to tea. Then there were the intimate chateaus like Chateau de Montressor, reputedly Mick Jaggar’s favourite, where we were simply let in and allowed to wander the chateau under your own steam. My fingers itched to clean the dust from elegant chandeliers – but honestly, I’d be turfing the wildlife on the walls!
We also visited Clos de Lucé – not quite a chateau but close enough (it overlooks Amboise Chateau), where Leonardo da Vinci settled in 1516 and spent the final three years of his life designing war machines and putting the finishing touches to the Mona Lisa. It’s recently had a makeover for the 500th anniversary of his arrival in France, and is quite a joy to see. Afterwards there was tea in the garden café (complete with elegant teapots of course!).
Oh and the gardens. They certainly delighted the senses, like the renaissance gardens at Chateau du Villandry. Initially established in the 16th century by Jacques Androuet de Cerceau, the gardens were reinterpreted in the early 20th century by the château’s flamboyant Spanish owner, Joachim Carvallo, whose great-grandson Henri Carvallo keeps up the task today. It is really a series of rooms on different terraces containing a water garden, medicinal garden, vegetable garden and even a garden of love where intricate hearts and diamonds in yew and box are filled with colourful flowers.
Oh and I have to tell you about our greatest find – little peaceful Chédigny, the prettiest of villages. Each May the whole village turns into a rose garden, wrapping you in their subtle scent as you wander through.
With over a hundred chateau’s opened to the public, there is plenty to see and do. But for us the real joy was slowing down, taking time – after all it’s all about the journey. That meant stopping to wander through fields strewn with red poppies (they are called coquelicots in French), popping into a tabac for a pick me up at elevenses to find locals enjoying glasses of rosé and tucking in to bouef steak with the locals.
If you want tranquillity this is the place. Yes there are tourists at most of the chateau’s, but equally there are villages asleep in the hot afternoon sun, cool forest paths beckoning exploration and picnic spots galore – so come prepared with a knife, plate, glasses and maybe a little cool bag.
Accommodations are plentiful, exclusive stays in chateaus, through to abundant (and cheap) bed and breakfast options of all sizes and shapes from rooms in villages to farmhouse stays.
I think I may be one of those noses says my friend as we stopped off for some wine tasting at Langlois-Chateau in St-Hilaire-St-Florent. And maybe she is, she certainly can smell the berries and citrus tones far better than me. That aside we all enjoyed learning how sparkling wines are made in this region, visiting the cellars (an even 11 C all year round (and freezing) and sampling a cross section of the crémant produced (white, rose and red). Whether we get the concept of terroir, described so eloquently by our host, I am not as convinced. But I do know a good sparkling when I taste it, and this was it. Fresh, dry and surprisingly complex!
Those are the things that linger in my memory of the Loire along with the crusty bread, the unfurling river, the quiet roads, the fields of wheat slowly coming to head, enchanting forests, wines maturing slowly in the limestone caves and most of all the rural courtesy and patience with our inadequate French and – of course the talk fests, belly laughs and taking care of our relationships.
My friend and I are already planning the repeat performance next year …. All that has to be decided is where and when!
Looking to plan a holiday with friends and would like some help? Drop me a line at anthea@travelyourway.com.au and lets get started.
