So Day Seven was Monday the 28th March in France, Chenoncheaux
It was quite a chilly day, with a bit of drizzle here and there, but for the most part clear. We had a lovely breakfast
and then set off to explore the nearest Chateaux- Chenonceaux which was literally down the road from our Hotel.
Some shots of inside the Chateaux
Just love these tiles! They must of been beautiful in their day!
One of the bedrooms.
The Chateaux.
A bit of history as taken from the site : "Château des Dames as recorded in the French history books, Chenonceau owes a large part of its charm to women: it was built in 1513 by Katherine Briçonnet, then made even more attractive by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Médicis, and saved from the rigours of the French Revolution by Mrs Dupin."
Oh this was our little car we drove around in.
Next chateaux was Villandry.
Villandry was completed toward 1536 and was the last of the large chateaus built in the Loire Valley during the Renaissance. More history here. (really interesting)
The gardens here are amazing. I would love to see them in summer, they must be spectacular!
Have a look at the gardens here over the seasons! Beautiful!
We could walk into the forest above the castle which was lovely, lot's of flowers growing here and there, daffodils and tulips. The earth soft and moist with that lovely fresh, wet ground smell and leaves lining the trodden paths.
This is a good view of the different vegetable and herb gardens. The one in the foreground is the Garden of Love-can you see the heart shaped hedges? So pretty. In summer, in amongst the hedges are full of flowers, color co-ordinated.
We could also go the castles keep and look out over the valley. Really a spectacular site!
Some views of inside.
Heading back to the hotel again...
We got back and went for a walk around the Village. This was one of my favorite parts of the whole holiday.It was just so peaceful and quiet and the sun was setting and everything was bathed in that warm, yellow dusk light. I love that time of day! Walking around a village in the middle of France, it was just so special.
Cute donkey.
And then we took a drive to Montrichard and caught the sunset and ate dinner at some cute little place.
And that was the end of our day 7!One more day to show you and then I want to show you my journal and some of the vintage postcards i got there. Enjoy your day!
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4 comments:
Wow...glad you are feeling better Bonnie ;) Just love the gardens...they go on forever. Can't imagine the maintenance but I'm always amazed by them and could spend days in them. We try to go to South Carolina in April/May to a few of the colonial gardens when the azalias bloom...it's the closest thing that we can get to these European formal gardens. I read a book last year about Diane dePoiters and the Chateau Chenonceaux so it's so cool to see you there ;)
so glad you are feeling better bon. Love your photo's, they are all gorgeous!! this place is definatly on my wish list!! haha!
thinking of you
Love Em Xx
I would adore visiting all those places! Your photos look like beautiful postcards!
Can't wait to see what's up the next day!
Take care,
Angela
I wrote a huge comment and it all erased. Lovingi your pictures. I was able to harvest viola seeds from Villandry! I also loved the covered walkway that gives shade from the grape and flower vines over you. Each of the squares at Villandry represent love of different types: romantic, family, unrequited, passionate, etc etc. I liked sitting on the edges of the fountains imagining 400 years ago and people coming for buckets of water to water the hedges and flowers.
Chenonceaux was so romantic over the river. Boats bringing supplies would anchor in the river and trapdoors would open in the chateaux and goods would be hoisted up inside. Loved the long "lady hall" with all it's mirrors, like a mini Versaille.
I never went to Versaille. Did you?
We also went to Leonardo Da Vinci's home, where there were fabulous models of his inventions and many of his plans and drawings. My daughter sat outside on the lawn weaving daisy chain wreaths for her head with her "Gramma friend". We had gone on a bus tour and she was the only child and got tons of attention from everyone. She was a sweet wellbehaved little sprite and so everyone was eager to have her company.
The bus driver stopped at Sleeping Beauty's castle so we could get a photo, although it wasn't in our tour sadly.
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