Our French Chateau

We left lovely Chinon and headed east. Our first stop was the second most visited Chateau in France after Versailles - Château de Chenonceau or the Ladies Chateau.

This is a beautiful chateau originally built on the banks of the Cher River but was then extended across the river to form a bridge. The first mention of the Chateau is in the 11th century but the current one was built in the 16th century. It is built from the white limestone found all over the Loire Valley called Tuffeau.

Multiple women were involved in its history and evolution. Many Kings and Queens were born or spent time in the chateau.

During the French Revolution it was nearly destroyed except for some smart thinking to claim it is an important river crossing and needs to be saved. In WW1 it was used as a military hospital for wounded French troops. In WW2 it was damaged by both allied and German bombing, it was also used by the resistance to move people from the occupied zone on one side of the Cher to the Vichy zone on the other side.

Now it is a much visited historical site, not just for the amazing buildings but also for the gardens.

After looking around the chateau and the gardens we headed to the town of Amboise for lunch. This town is on the Loire River and is overlooked by its own Château royal d'Amboise. We didn’t have time to view this chateau as we had to move on to our stop for the night - our very own Chateau! We are spending the night in the Château de la Bourdaisière.

This Chateau dates back to the 14th century when it was originally a fortress. Over the years it has been demolished and rebuilt, served multiple purposes and had different owners. The current owner, the Prince of Broglie, bought it in 1991 and has restored and rebuilt much of the buildings and the gardens.

We arrived late in the afternoon and after a welcome from the Prince himself went for a walk around the grounds. They have over 700 types of tomatoes growing in the garden and lots of dahlias as well.

Our last dinner as a group as this tour ends tomorrow was in the dining room of the Chateau. After dinner we headed back to the room to find we had a visitor. A micro bat was zooming around our room! After much trying neither us nor the staff could persuade it to fly out the window so we were upgraded to a bigger room. Not something that happens all the time!

Tomorrow we return to Paris and our tour ends.Les mer