Chateau de Vilandry

There has been so much to see and our time very limited but we decided today to go to Chateau Villandry, not so much to see inside the castle but because the gardens are world renown. It was another hot day and when we arrived we were not thrilled to see that hundreds of other people had had the same idea. I am sort of allergic to tour buses, and there were a lot of them, but we persevered and made our way in the gate. This chateau has a five hundred year history but the part that interested us is the love story between the couple who bought it in the early part of the twentieth century, A Spanish doctor, Joachim Carvello who had been doing research in Paris when he met a young American heiress, Anne Coleman, fell in love and in 1909 bought the Chateau and decided to recreate the gardens in the Renaissance style and the result is wonderful. They poured their hearts and resources into the project and in the late 1920's first opened the chateau to the public and by doing so encouraged other chateau owners to do the same. 

There are a number of gardens within the walls; the magnficent flower and vegetable garden which changes three times each year,

the garden of love, rich with symbolism, very some of the 52 kms of perfectly manicured boxwood can be found,

the water gardens, where canals feed off a lovely lake and provide water for the dozens of fountains and irrigation for all the plantings, and a welcome relief from the heat (as one naked little girl in a fountain seemed to have discovered)

the fairly recently added sun and cloud gardens, a mass profusion of colour, more English in style than French where the cloud garden is all blues, whites and purples (my favourite of all) and the sun garden is yellows, oranges and reds.

There was also a maze, a medicinal herbal garden and long, long walkways through vine arbours and bordered by more than 9000 yew trees and even a lovely wooded area with views over the gardens and the valley. Even though there were so many people there the property is very extensive and we could never felt crowded. The property is still owned by Henri Carvallo, the grandson of Joachim and Anne, and it is obvious by the care and attention that he is still working on new additions to make it an even more spectacular place while still maintaing the intrinsic value of the original design. His grandparents would be proud of him. We loved our time there and could have spent all day. 

Flying over the Loire

 I should have learnt by now - after all we have been married 30 years, but this year for our anniversary I surprised my sweetheart by arranging for us to have a flight over the Loire Valley with our host from the gite that we were renting. Firstly, Gord doesn't like surprises - I do! I guess I keep forgetting that fact and secondly, I had not learnt that you do not arrange for a seasoned pilot to fly in any old airplane. Gord wanted to know all about the plane and the qualifications of our pilot before he was happy to put his trust in a stranger and his machine and the only answer I had was that he "seemed" like a nice fellow. Anyway, all doubts aside, well maybe not aside but ignored anyway, we put our lives in the hands of the nice fellow and took off for a ride in a little, tiny, tinbox  Cessna for what turned out to be a most enjoyable hour.

Gord - less than sure about this idea!

It has been hot and very windy this week and our host suggested that we leave early in the morning. We arrived at the airport, the only other car there was our pilot's and we got there in time to see him up a ladder with the gas hose. The windsock at the end of the runway was pointing straight out and we were told that there would be a fair bit of turbulence at the take off but once we were up it shouldn't be too bad. The Loire Valley is huge and the Cessna was slow so we only got to see a little part of it but it was so much fun. The valley is very fertile and I loved looking at all the patchwork of the farms spread below.

France has been experiencing a drought and over the last couple of months they have had practically no measurable amount of rain - a delight for the tourists but getting to be a desperate situation for the farmers. We had been struck earlier in the week with how low the river is but flying over we got a clear picture of how bad it is.

The very low Loire

 The whole of the sand bank on the left side of the river should be filled by now. It is not a very deep river but even so it is in a crisis situation and water rationing abounds. Watering restrictions have been in place for some time and now the swimming pools are not to be filled. Surveilance aircraft check to make sure that the law is being followed.

It was fun too, to see the little villages and to even fly over the hamlet that we are staying in and have our hostess come out and wave as we buzzed the site.

Montreuil Bellay

Of course the highlight for me was to fly over the chateaux, to see ones we had visited on the ground and to see a few more that we wouldn't have had a chance to see.

Chateau de Brissac

Chateau de Saumur

As expected, many of the grand country homes are impossible to see from the road as they are well protected from the trees - but not from small low flying aircraft!

A small private (!!!) chateau

It was a wonderful experience and it could prove to be quite expensive because I was captivated and now think that in addition to starting my new business, adding french windows, shutters, wrought iron gates etc to the house, gardening (I will tell you about that tomorrow), we also need to get a small plane. I can't believe that Gord isn't just dying to get one after all the fun we had today!

20 down - 980 to go!

There are apparently over 1000 chateaux in the Loire valley. We have been blitzing them but Friday is our last day and I think that the next two days are going to be really, really busy. Here is a sample of what we have seen:

Chateau de Montgoffrey

Chateau de Langeais

My favourite! Chateau de Chevenceau

Chateau de Saumur

Chateau de Chiverney

Chateau de Chambord

Chateau de Serrant

... and that is just a sample of some of the chateaux that we have seen! I know what you are thinking and you are right - Gord has been incredibly patient! The amazing part is that he seems to have really enjoyed it too. The chateaux are not close! That means a lot of driving and trying to navigate busy twisty roads, but we have had a lot of fun. We haven't gone in all of them but a lot more than I expected. What we have learnt is that chateaux come in all shapes, sizes, conditions and settings. The earliest date back to Medieval times and the biggest and most popular are still working on improving and upgrading the buildings. In addition to all the castles that are national monuments and are open to the public we constantly come across other little chateaux that are private homes or this one, a lovely hotel.

Chateau Hotel de Crissay

This is where we will have to stay next time!