Chambord & Chenonceau

We picked the most direct route south from Chartres which zig zagged through acres of farmland with barely a village to be seen. We crossed the Loire river and reached the Chateau de Chambord, which is maybe the finest expression of Renaissance architecture, as well as being the largest, grandest and most visited chateau in the Loire valley.

Begun in 1519 for Francis I as a hunting lodge, it ended up with 426 rooms, 282 fireplaces and 77 staircases!

At its centre is a double spiral staircase, possibly based on drawings by Leonardo da Vinci …

…such that one person can go up and another go down and all that meets are your eyes across the void!

The design is modular with each corner section containing the same layout and an external staircase so all guests were treated equally …

… and some rooms were beautifully restored with period furniture.

Francis had his own wing and his emblem is the salamander, which can be seen throughout.

Later kings came to stay with their courts and made additions such as this suite of ceremonial apartments for Louis XIV with this audience chamber, complete with bed.

Walking round the terraces gave a good view of the intricacy of the roof architecture (spot more salamanders) …

and a lovely view of the gardens …

… which were just as lovely at ground level …

… although there was too much breeze to get a perfect reflection.

We continued to Blois where we stayed at the family-run Hotel Anne De Bretagne for the night …

… and later went to explore and found the Chateau de Blois which looked larger from the side …

… than the front, but we didn’t have time to visit.

After a wander and a drink in the artistic quarter …

… we went to Le Castelet for dinner as they promised a menu of artisanal produce prepared with homemade flair and a vegetarian option.

We were truly treated! An amuse bouche of spicy pepper gazpacho got us started …

… then gravalax of pollock and sweet potato chutney with ginger, and tenderloin of pork with cider cream sauce with sweet potato, truffle and shiitake mushrooms for me …

… and for Chris mushroom crumble and roasted tofu then dahl of lentils with seasonal vegetables.

We had two spoons for the Croq’ chou of yogurt ice cream and passionfruit caramel!

Next day, Caves Monmousseau was our first stop, despite it only being 10.30, as they are renowned for their method traditionelle sparkling wines such as Cremant de Loire. Their cellars are built into the limestone cliff, using the tunnels left once the tufa stone was mined to build the local chateaux, perfect for storing wine as they remain a constant 12° all year round.

The tour showed how the tufa was mined …

… and also explained the double fermentation process and a handy little trick of freezing the neck of the bottle so a frozen plug of wine can be removed containing the sediment.

There was also a light show which evoked various chateau by certain features such as the maze at Villandry and the spiral stairs at Chambord.

We then had a tasting of their various wines, spitting as necessary for the driver, but managed to settle on our favourite, and have several bottles to bring home!

Next up was the most visited chateau in France, Chenonceau …

… which was built in the C16th on the foundations of an old mill and later extended to span the River Cher. It was given by King Henri II to his mistress Diane de Poitiers, painted here as Diane the Huntress.

After his death, his widow Queen Catherine d’Medici …

… had Chenonceau given to her in a chateaux swap with Diane! These two women each designed one of the huge square gardens at the front of the chateau – this is Diane’s Garden …