The Chateaux - some historical information for you.

I decided to dig out some pertinent facts on 4 of the main Chateaux in the immediate area for any of you who have an historical bent. There are many more Chateaux that all have a story to tell but thought that I would concentrate on the following as I feel that they are the most popular.

CHAMBORD: ( The one with 4 large towers-top left )
The young King Francois 1st was 25 years old in 1519 when he initiated the huge enterprise of building the Chateau of Chambord. England at that time was being affected by major changes in continental Europe: conflicts engendered by the Reformation were troubling the kingdom & Renaissance tastes were being adapted through the Tudor style of architecture as seen in Somerset House.

As soon as he acceded to the throne in 1515, Francois 1st set out to reconquer the Italian province of Milan, which his predecessor, Louis 12th, had lost. On his return to France, this ambitious young king & very keen huntsman, stimulated by his victory at Marignano & influenced by Italy's Renaissance architecture, undertook to build the Chateau of Chambord.

Chambord was intended as a hunting lodge but its architecture makes it an extravagant chateau since it is 156m long & 56m tall with 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces & 426 rooms. Yet despite these vast dimensions, from the outside the chateau still appears delightfully graceful & well balanced. Of all the materials used in its construction, it is the " tufa " that really catches the eye; although employed at most Loire Valley sites, it is definately at Chambord that this calcareous stone, soft & friable, was worked with greatest virtuosity.

Francois 1st reigned for 32 yrs, during which he spent only 72 days at Chambord; he never saw his project completed for on his death in 1547 only the keep & the royal wing had been finished.During this time Francois 1st kept 1800 workers & artisans busy for 15 years. It was his son Henry 2nd, & Louis 14th, both likewise fond of hunting, who were responsible for making Chambord look the way we see it today.

Two other interesting facts about the chateau :
Tha chateau's famed double -helix staircase, attributed by some to Leonardo da Vinci who lived in Amboise ( 34 km S-W ) at the invitation of Francois 1st from 1516 until his death 3 yrs later, consists of 2 spiral staircases that wind around a central axis but never meet. The ornamentation is early French Renaissance.
The chateau is in the middle of the " Domaine National de Chambord ", a 54 sq-km hunting preserve reserved solely for the use of the president of France ( a right that Jacques Chirac has chosen not to exercise. A 32km stone wall built between 1542 & 1645 surrounds the estate.

CHENONCEAU: ( It straddles the Cher River )
Chenonceau's vast park, landscaped gardens & forests covering an area of 70 hectares either side of the River Cher, afford stunning views of the chateau exterior. Alongside the famed gardens of Diane de Poitiers & Catherine de Medicis there is also a beautifully restored 16th century farm to explore.

Nowhere is the power of the Renaissance woman more obvious than at Chenonceau, an architectural & horticultural feat that rose purely from the efforts of 5 strong-willed women. As royal mistress to Henry 2nd ( Francois 1st son ) the beautiful & brilliant Diane de Poitiers
( 1499-1566 ) was showered with fabulous gifts by the king - who made her a duchess & on the death of her cuckold husband in 1547 - gave her Chateau de Chenonceau. Thus the riverside chateau was transformed into a palace fit for a queen. A bridge was built across the river & 12000m of low lying land were raised to create a royal garden. Today 12 gardeners ensure that its vast lawn is cut 70 times a year & its beds potted out with 32000 plants twice yearly.

Ironically, Diane de Poitiers failed to realise her ambitious 5 yr landscaping project. In 1559 Henry 2nd died, prompting his royal mistress to cede the chateau to her archrival, the queen: Catherine de Medicis ( 1519-1589 ) & move to the less spectacular but still very impressive Chateau de Chaumont where she resided until she died in 1566.

Louise de Lorraine ( 1553-1601 ) cast a grey cloud over Chenonceau. Her husband, Henry 3rd, was assassinated the same year she inherited it from Catherine de Medicis, prompting the bereaved queen to drape its interior in black while donning nothing but white - the royal colour of mourning - herself. With the death of " la dame blanche " ( the white lady ) Chenonceau passed into the hands of Louise's neice, Francoise de Lorraine, & thus oput of royal hands.

The flamboyant Louise Dupin ( 1706-1799 ) , daughter of an actress, was the 4th femme fatale to leave her indelible mark on Chenonceau. She brought Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Chenonceau as a tutor for her son. During the French Revolution, the affection with which the peasantry regarded Madame Dupin saved the chateau from the violent fate of many of its neighbours. She finally died at the ripe old age of 93.

UNder Marguerite Pelouze from 1864, a rigorous renovation project aimed at restoring Chenonceau 16th century form was embarked upon. In1888 Pelouze was declared bankrupt, paving the way for the 1st male proprietor - industrialist & chocolatier Henri Menier - to adopt Chateau de Chenonceau as his queen.

VALENCAY ( the one with the beautiful garden above )
In 1540 on the ruins of a 12th century medieval castle, Jacques d'Etampes built a great chateau to rival the string of royal chateaux that were then being built along the Loire river Valley. Along with the Chateaux at Chambord & Chenonceau, its keep is one of the finest masterpieces of French Renaissance architecture.

In 1770, Louis 15th's farmer general Legendre de Villemorien extended the west wing by adding a roof " a la Mansart ", together with domes on the top of the corner towers, he also added a classical facade in the main courtyard.

In 1803, Napoleon's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, purchased Valencay so that he could entertain guests of honour. It was from there that from 1808-1814 the Princes of the Spanish Royal family took residence, following Napoleon's orders.

At the time, it was one of the 3 biggest estates in France, comprising 12000 hectares of land, 100 farms, as well as fields, vineyards & woodland together with a closed park covering 100 hect. After Talleyrand's death in 1838, the estate remained in the hands of his heirs until 1979.

CHEVERNY: ( The photo looking straight down the avenue to the chateau )
Cheverny, one of the best known Loire chateaux, belongs to the descendants of the Hurault family, well known in Blois from the 13th century. This family of financiers & officers has given distinguished service to 5 kings of France, including Jacques ( Treasurer to Louis 12th ), Philippe ( Chancellor to Henri 3rd & Henri 4th ) & his son Henri, Count of Cheverny, the builder of the chateau.

An officer of King Louis 13th, Count Henri & his Countess Marguerite decided to build a new chateau, inspired by the work of the best artists of the period. Cheverny's architect Boyer of Blois & its painter & decorator Jean Monier had worked for Queen Marie de Medici at the Chateau of Blois & the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. Cheverny was in the forefront of architectural development & can be said to have invented the French style in 1630-1640.

The Chateau, which is richly furnished, is still owned by the Hurault de Vibraye family, descendants of the original builders. Each suceeding generation has enhanced, maintained & preserved the beauty & character of the Chateau of Count Henri, guided by their own taste & that of the period. Hope this extra information has been helpful to you, until next time.

Up in Paris & Tom's visit from London.

Life got back to normal after Kath's departure & we now looked forward to our nephew Tom Ledwidges' visit on Sunday 22nd October.

It was Monday 16thOctober & was just starting my walk down to get the baguette for our breakfast & had walked about 20m when I felt a sharp pain in my left leg right behind the knee, at first I thought that it was a cramp so I did some stretching & then continued on, by the time I had arrived back at the house the leg had become quite painful.

During the morning I elevated it & applied an ice pack & when Roger & Christiane arrived she gave me a stretch elastic knee support to put on, during the next couple of days it improved marginally & as we were going to Paris for the meeting for our Carte de Sejour Roger on Thursday 19th Oct. @ 9.30am.

D-day arrived & we were on our way to the prefecture for our appointment, we arrived with time to spare but like any government department until nearly 10.30am. We sat down as the staff member thumbed through our paperwork, after a minute or so she retorted & said " where are the originals ", Sara explained that they had to be sent back to Sydney with the other 5 copies & the original is still in Sydney. She said that wasn't her concern & anyway why hadn't we had all the in English translated to French, plus we should have set up a bank a/c in France.

By this time we were both quite agitated & in one of the few times that I've ever seen Sara " crack it " she demanded all our papers back as we weren't interested in persuing this matter any further, this took the girl by surprise as I guess no one had ever stood up to her. She then said that Australians normally only stay 3mths & then leave it was unusual to apply to stay longer. She went away to discuss it with her superior & then came back & begrudgingly gave us an extension of 3mths to the 18th January but then had to sign an attestation that we wouldn't return again to apply for our Carte de Sejour - what a joke. Sara then demanded that we take a copy of all the paperwork as we now had no record left, she virtually threw the papers back at Sara.

After that Sara just placed the papers back on her desk & we left, we were nearly out the front door when a young lady said that we had to go back, our friend accused Sara of taking the front page, Sara said that she hadn't given to us, she disagreed, Sara saw it sticking out from the side of her computer & let her know in Sara's own tactful way. After that we all needed a drink so we went to nice bar/restaurant & had beers ( see pic ) for us 3 & a coffee for Christiane. To give you an idea of the cost we had 2 x 500ml Leffe, 1 x 250ml Leffe & the coffee & it cost E27.00 ( $A 45.80 ) but it was worth it just to be out of that situation.

Roger made an appointment with his doctor on Friday & after his examination he put me onto an aspirin based tablet to be taken 3 times a day. The following day I had a doppler scan to get a more accurate assessment - bingo, it confirmed that I had suffered a " phlebitis " in the leg.
Roger's doctor then put me onto a course of 8 innohep ( blood thinning ) injections to assist in the recovery of the leg, I didn't look forward to sticking needles in myself but to alleviate the pain it was going to be worth it.

Our trip to Tours Airport was straight forward as we had previously driven there to check out its location, Tom arrived on time but it took time to get through the luggage pick-up. It was great to see him as we hadn't seen him since his trip to OZ late last year. We stopped for lunch on the way home ( see pic ) this gave me a chance to stretch my leg. The weather was just perfect during this week so we all enjoyed the warm sun as we walked around these amazing Chateaux.

On the Tuesday we went to Montrichard for lunch & then drove to the small village of Bourre where they use to mine the " toufa " stone ( a type of limestone ) used in the construction of the Chateaux in the Loire Valley, the mine eventually ceased production in the 1920's as it was getting too dangerous & could underpin the housing in the village if they continued. Since then an Italian sculture has made an amazing underground village carved into the rockface & it only took him 3 yrs to complete, & he did it all in his spare time. ( see pic )

Trips to Chateau Valencay, Loches market ( where we bought fresh mussels & unshucked oysters as well as some lovely cheeses ), Chenonceau & Chambord (see pic )hopefully made Tom's stay here a memorable one ( I rested while they looked at these monuments & read my book ).
We have also had a couple of nights out for dinner, one at Chez Constant in St. Aignan ( see pic )& the other at Auberge Ferme ( farmhouse restaurant ) just a couple of kms up the back road from Mareuil, both very relaxing.

We drove into Tours with plenty of time for Tom to look around the " old ville " before he left at 1.45pm, he really enjoyed the atmosphere of the area & spent time wandering through their
" bric-a brac " market before heading to the airport. It was lovely to have him stay & we looked forward to seeing him in London during December.

Since our return to Mareuil I have had another doppler scan, 2 blood tests, 2 doctor's visits which have resulted with me continuing the injections & buying a full length cosmetic stocking to help control the blood flow-what a bummer. I am scheduled to have another blood test in the morning ( Thur.9th Nov. ) & then the doctor on Friday so hopefully I will get the all-clear & wont need any more injections. We do have another scan on Monday 13th Nov at Selles-sur-Cher so we are also looking for a positive result, we will then take scan with us to Paris when we leave here on Tuesday 14th November.

It has certainly been a fantastic experience living in a small village in the French countryside but we have seen all that we need to see in this area & we now look forward to our next phase in Paris & London. During our time in Paris we will be catching up with Tim Lyons ( Hazel & Tony's ) nephew & Matthew Logan ( Sara's cousin Bev's son ) . There are still many museums, monuments, famous streets etc to visit so I'm sure that our time will be taken up adequately.

We are also looking forward to experiencing Xmas & New Year in Paris & the cold chill of their Winter, it has just started to get cold in Mareuil over the past week with the overnight temperature dropping to zero but with beautiful clear blue skies during the day with a max. of 12-15c.

Dont think that you have got rid of us this easy as we will still be sending postings from Paris or other destinations during our time away. Until next blogger.

A visit from herself - K.M.B.Sheedy ffcs-bls.

With our trip now over we settled back into our normal pattern of " home " life with shopping & washing to be done, I caught up with reconciling all our expenses while we were away & answered ( or more correctly deleted ) most of the 80 or so emails that had accumulated over that period. After so many kms the car also needed a good wash & vacuum out, by the end it looked as good as new again.

The week passed rather quickly as we were looking forward to Kaths impending visit next Tuesday. Would you believe it, the weather had completely changed during this week as we now enjoyed beautiful warm days bathed in sunshine & not a cloud in the sky.

It was Monday 10th October just after b/fast & we were relaxing just getting ready for Kath's arrival tomorrow at Tours when the phone rang- guess who, it was Kath, & she had already arrived at Orly & was about to find out when her train would be leaving for Tours & would ring us back. Ten minutes later we knew, it was 1.00pm so we were stung into action.

Tours ( 270000 ) is about 55kms from here & took us a little over an hour, with time to spare we discovered the gem of Tours, the old part of the city. During this time we stopped for a coffee in a lovely square lined with large sun umbrellas ( parasols ) dotted around the area but still allowing people to bask in the warmth of France's " Indian Summer ", from where we were sitting we could see the old 14th century buildings ( see pic above ) that faced into the square giving the area a unique blend of old & new.

Kath rang back to say that her train would actually be arriving into St-Pierre-des-Corps ( the station before Tours ) & only 3kms to the east, we found our way there & waited for her arrival.
The train arrived right on time & we waited with excitement to see Kath, but after seeing people get off & no Kath we were concerned, so we then went to the next platform to look. Sara decided to go downstairs to the lounge area & sure enough she was there, it was great to see someone from home after nearly 3mths away. Unfortunately Kath had committed the cardinal sin that we all make & that was to pack too much luggage ( but that did include 4 books for Sara to read plus a litre bottle of Ballantines ) so all was forgiven. On our way back Kath said that she had had a great time on her walking tour in the Lakes District in the U.K. & after that in Budapest, Munich & Prague. We stopped for a welcome cuppa ( for Kath or " Ms Bushell ) & a bite to eat before wending our way back to Mareuil.

Over the next couple of days we took her to Chateau Chenonceau, Chateau Cheverny ( see pic of K & H ), Chambord as well as a nice dinner ( see pic ) at Chez Constant in St-Aignan & a lovely lunch in the Auberge Chateau Montpoupon where the decor, ambience & the food were just so well done unfortunately being 4 courses it was far too much for all of us so we just sat around & chatted that night. We left by 10.00am for the trip back to Tours arriving a little after 11.00am in plenty of time, we waited until she left at 12.10pm & thanked her for visiting us. We reflected later in the day that by the time that we had arrived back in Mareuil she would have already been at Montparnasse with the TGV train ( they travel at up to 300km/hr ). Our next visitore would be Roger & Christiane on Monday afternoon. See you soon.

Sancerre to Mareuil-sur-Cher.

The morning was much better ( see pic to the left outside our B & B ) as the rain had cleared & in its place was quite a heavy fog but even that was a welcome change from the previous couple of days. After b/fast we decided to take a look around this fascinating village. ( see the pics of the town square & surrounding hills ).

The tourism office had come up with a unique way of discovering their town, they had painted a burgundy line on certain streets directing you to 28 points of interest around the town, each point giving you a piece of history, we thought a very clever idea for tourists to just walk around at their liesure uncovering some of the secrets.

One of the stops was at the Maison des Sancerre which is an old building ( come to think of if, what isn't old in these parts ) that was bought & restored by the local winemakers of Sancerre to present to the visitor the history of making wine in & around the Sancerre region.

For all you wine buffs reading this there is quite an amazing history concerning the growing of grapes in this area. Evidence of the existence of vines in Sancerre is given by Gregory of Tours in 582AD in his " Historiae Franconum " & later in the 12th century in vine was given added impetus throught the combined efforts of the Augustine monks at St-Satur & the ruling counts of Sancerre.At the time, Sancerre was famous for its red wine, produced predominantly from the Pinot Noir grape & was often mentioned in accounts of life at the royal court, in fact in the opinion of Duke Jean de Berry, indeed the finest wine to be found in the entire kingdom.

In more modern times, cultivation of the vine has undergone some major changes. The original vineyards which were mainly Pinot Noir were destroyed by phylloxera & the end of the 19th century. Sauvignon Blanc has been widely planted & is particularly suited to the local climate, so much so that through the " terroir " ( the land & soil type basically ) & the skill of the winemaker thet have now created one of the world's great white wine. For the technically minded, there are 3 types of soil that dominate the Sancerre region :-

( a ) Clay & limestone white soils, the " terres blanches ", found in the hills furthest west
( b ) Pebbly limestone soils, known locally as the " caillottes "
( c ) Siliceous-clay soils, underlying the hills further east.

After a great lunch at the local pub in Menetreol-sous-Sancerre located just below Sancerre we then drove to the next village of Thauvenay at Domaine Serge Laloue to try & buy some of the famous Sauvignon Blanc of Sancerre. After a pleasant interlude there we started on our last leg. After an hour or so we had reached the ring road around Bourges, from there to Vierzon & we knew that Mareuil was not far away. We finally drove into " our home " away from home at about 5.45pm after covering nearly 4200kms in a shade under 3 wks. We had seen some fabulous countryside & scenery during this time but were now quite happy to relax & wait for our friend Kath Sheedy to arrive next week. a la prochain ( until the next ).

From Avallon to Chablis & Sancerre.

Breakfast in the old mill at Le Moulin des Templiers was lovely but unfortunately the weather was starting to change as it was still drizzling as we left for Avallon. By the time we arrived there it was heavy rain so we passed through there onto Nitry before arriving at Tonnere.
Thankfully the rain had subsided so we could get to see a most unusual piece of nature at work called " Fosse Dionne " where situated right behind some housing in the centre of town is this natural spring that gushes 100l/sec of water evidently its weird blue/green tint hints at its great depth. The pool is surrounded by an 18th century washing house & a semi-circle of ancient houses. Legend has it that a serpent lurks at the bottom of the spring.

As we drove further north through Chaource, Bar-sur-Seine ( yes its part of the same river that runs through Paris ), Brenne-sur-Chateau, Soulaines-Dhuys, Doulevant-le-Chateau to Joinville where we stopped to get some supplies for lunch & fill up the car. We decided to take the preferred scenic route to Ligny-en-Barrois it was such a pity that the rain was now spoiling this beautiful area.

We were going to stay at Bar-de-Duc o/night but once we saw the size of it & the traffic we pushed on through to Saint-Dizier with the same result. We drove a little further south to the small village of Chamouille where we found a very comfortable Farmhouse B & B on the southern end of town. As we didn't wish to go back out to find somewhere to eat we made a nice dinner from our lunchtime supplies & sat back with a bottle of red & watched some tele.

The rain was still persisting as we left so we weren't going to see a lot of the surrounding countryside during the day so we pushed on past Troyes & Sens before heading south to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne ( this is where the French actress Leslie Caron has a lovely Hotel/B & B, we had read about it in a newspaper clipping we had bought from home ). We stopped briefly for coffee & then headed further south. As we entered the outskirts of Chablis we past the large co-operative of la Chablisienne ( that's the label that Vintage Cellars import from Chablis as a private label which is quite good quality for the price ). With the rain still quite steady we found a local cave ( cellar ) to try some of his wines. The cave was Jean-Marc Brocard & we some of their Petite Chablis, Premier & Grand Cru all very nice.

After a very nice interlude tasting these very nice wines from one of the premier regions in France for white wines we headed off with our purchase S-W through Auxerre, Toucy, St-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire then onto Sancerre arriving late in the afternoon, what a sight, perched high above the valley commanding a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. That night we walked through the narrow streets where we found a very cosy little restaurant where we both enjoyed Coq-au-vin done in the traditional way with a rich red wine sauce with shallots & mushrooms then enjoyed the walk back to our B & B in the crisp evening air. A beintot posting ( until a later posting ).