For The Love of Travel

Our journey today took us first to Chédigny, the only village in France which has been certified with the label “Jardin Remarquable”. 

A very pretty village which has 1000 rose trees, 1500 bulbs plants, about a hundred bushes and thousands of perennial plants, which we explored while walking in the narrow streets of the village. Obviously, the best time to visit would be in spring, but we still got some colour. The transformation of the village started in 1998….the gardeners of Chédigny gradually improved their ranking in the “best flowered cities and villages contest” and were rewarded in 2019 with the most prestigious title: the golden flower!

A very grumpy and seemingly exhausted lad waiting for his sister’s baptism (we think). ‘Dressed to the nines’ as well 🙂

Next to Loches, classed as one of the most beautiful sites in France (“Plus Beaux Détours de France”) and a “Town of Art and History”. This citadel town, whose story goes back a thousand years, has an amazing medieval complex within its walls. We had the best coffee and hot chocolate before strolling around its paved streets, looking at Tuffeau stone façades and intertwined roofs. 

The town of Loches is connected to some of the great celebrities of French history: Agnès Sorel, “Lady of Beauty” and the first officially recognised mistress of a French king, Fulk III, AKA “the falcon”, fearsome warrior and indefatigable builder who commissioned the Donjon (castle’s keep). He was notorious for his cruelty and bloodthirstiness. He spent a considerable part of his life fighting his enemies, particularly Odo II, Count of Blois, his nemesis.

On the way to Montresor, we came across by surprise the impressive Chartreuse du Liget, built in 1180 by Henry II Plantagenet as penance for the murder of Thomas Becket. Droney did the hard work for us and took a pic of the estate including the ruins of the cloister and chapel. 

Montresor was our last stop. Terry and John visited the Chateaux of Montresor, while I launched droney again.  The château has seen 1000 years of history and is home to a big art collection. One of the chateau’s owners was Count Xavier Branicki, a famous Polish refugee exiled in France. Below, the river is like a mirror reflecting the château and the village houses.

The Halle des Cardeux has a free exhibition of ‘Gemmail’. Initiated in 1935 by Jean Crotti, and has been a technique adopted by Cocteau, Picasso, Gaugin, Modigliani and Braque to name a few.  My fave on show was by Shizuka Murayama, “Les Pavots (poppies)”:

Artists work on large sheets of glass placed on trestles and illuminate them from underneath, layering fragments of glass of varying degrees of thickness and different colors, depending on the tones and effect desired. These are temporarily stuck together using transparent glue, then checked and signed by the artist, and placed into a drying kiln where the glue is removed. Next, the fragments of glass are permanently attached to prepare for the final firing. The temperature of the final firing is increased slowly and carefully in order to avoid any damage to the piece, and the final cooling is also carefully controlled.

A ‘Gemmail’ is therefore essentially a translucent painting, transforming and modulating colour by capturing light through the many layers and textures of the glass.

On our way back to the car we saw an interesting marble face set into the wall of a building and a couple tending to their garden at day’s end (with a great view back to the old part of town).

Its been a wonderful and full day…. now off to dinner @ La Reserve, back at Amboise. I had pork loin with honey and mustard sauce. Yum!

We returned to see the Chenonceau chateaux in daylight and even though it is a slightly overcast day, this chateaux is still breathtaking. It was built in the 16thC on the foundations of an old mill and was later extended to span the river, the bridge being designed by the French Renaissance architect Philbert de l’Orme. An architectural mix of late Gothic and early Renaissance, it’s the most visited châteaux in France.

A potted history of ownership……..In 1555, the mistress of Henry II, Diane de Poitiers, oversaw the planting of the extensive vegetable and flower gardens along with a variety of fruit trees. Set along the banks of the river, but buttressed from flooding by stone terraces, the exquisite gardens were laid out in 4 triangles. After years of delicate legal manoeuvring, she also took possession/ownership of the châteaux.

Henry’s widow, Catherine de Medici, in the following year, forced Diane to exchange it for Château Chaumont…Queen Catherine then made Chenonceau her own favourite residence, adding a new series of gardens.

The Bourbons in the 17thC had little interest in the châteaux except for hunting, with the castle contents being sold and statues ending up at Versailles.

In the 18thC, Claude Dupin purchased the estate and his wife, Louise established a literary salon that attracted leaders from the ‘Enlightenment’ such as Voltaire and Fontenelle. She saved the chateaux from destruction during the French revolution arguing it was “essential to travel and commerce, being the only brieg across the river for miles”. Made sense to the Revolutionary Guard!

In 1894 Marguerite Pelouze, a rich heiress acquired the châteaux commissioning a restoration of the interior. Jose-Emilio Terry, a Cuban millionaire, acquired it from Marguerite, then sold it to Henri Menier, a member of the Menier family, famous for their chocolates, who own it to this day.

Terry and John explored the interior of the chateaux and gardens while I went to explore Saint-Aignan, another charming medieval town in the Cher river valley at the crossroads of 3 provinces (Touraine, Orleans and Berry).

Lots of half-timbered houses, cobble-stone alleyways and the collegiate church, with its frescoes from the 12th and 14thC.

Montrichaud was our last stop for the day – we had a fantastic afternoon tea from Richard Chateigner patisserie and chocolaterie !

Our first stop today, the Chateau Royal. Occupied since Neolithic times, Amboise became the main settlement of the Turones, a Celtic people. The first fortifications were built on the rocky spur and favoured the development of Gallo-Romanesque style. In 4thC AD, the first trenches of the chateau were dug to defend the residences built above the town. The fortress was fiercely disputed during medieval times, between the counts of Anjou and Blois. 

Chateau Royal was one of the favorite sites of the kings of France when they transformed their country during the Renaissance period. Phillippe-Auguste, Louis X1, Anne de Bretagne, François 1, Charles V111 and Léonard de Vinci (buried in St Hubert chapel @ the castle), have all had an impact on the chateau’s design.

From its elevated position at the tip of a rocky outcrop, the royal castle of Amboise offers a unique panorama over the landscapes of the Loire Valley. 

And the gardens are a panorama in themselves. Vines and topiary, a main courtyard with a planting of lime trees, a charming mix of immaculately clipped box balls and cones; tall slender Italian cyprus add height and interest; the oriental garden and south of France garden…the colour scheme is a simple mix of green, grey and white – with occasional blues and pinks to brighten the mix.

Some eclectic pics from Chateau wanderings:

18thC chair with Chinoiserie decoration

Great Hall provided a setting for the Royal Court where senior lords and their wives met to discuss the issues of the day

Lebanese cedar tree planted in 1840

 A photograph of Emir Abdelkader (1808-1883), who was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggle against the French colonial invasion of Algiers in the early 19th century. He was captured by French troops in 1847 and was transported to the Chateau d’Amboise as his residence, with family and a retinue of 80 people. The Emir spent 4 years at the Chateau before being personally freed by Napoleon.

After our chateau visit, Terry and John had dessert @ Patisserie Bigot, heres’ a pic of Terry’s Apricot tart….yum, but John’s choccy macaron looked great too.

Decided after dinner to see both Chateau d’Amboise and Chateau Chenonceau lit up at night….the latter required a 15 mins journey out of Amboise to a point by the river Cher, and then a walk in the dark through Park de Francueil to Chenonceau. Thank god John had a head torch light…lit the pathway for us… and Terry and John are both such good sports, couldn’t have taken these shots without them.

And on the way home in Amboise…..