What is the Significance of the Carrot in the Loire Valley?

That's not the vegetable we are talking about, but a piece of French cultural heritage. Our clients are often shocked by how many French people smoke, and the carrot in question is connected to smoking. Everywhere you go you will see a distinctive orange diamond shaped sign above newsagents or bars that tells you that they sell tobacco. It is known as 'la carotte'.

The origin of the shape of the sign comes from how tobacco was sold in the 16th century. In those days tobacco was sold as leaves that you chewed or smoked. The leaves were not attached to their stalks, but in rolls that were wrapped in calico and tightly wound round with string in a way that made them resemble carrots. In order to use the tobacco one grated the 'carrot'. Later, the form changed to cigars and cigarettes, but the carrot symbol for shops stuck.

If you enjoy snippets of history like this then book a tour with us. We have dozens of fun and intriguing stories like this to share with clients.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. You may also like to check out our YouTube channel. 

A Review From Jane

Last year I had the pleasure of guiding Jane and Jerry, who were travelling with their lively grandson. He was a ten year old bundle of curiosity and questions. As well as all the usual 10 year old boy enthusiasm for the historical stories of gory death and explosions, he was most engaged by stories linked to the development of science, and anything that involved maths and puzzles. It was great fun for me to tailor the tour to keep him engaged, and Jane very generously took the time to write a wonderful review of our time together:

"Breath and accuracy of history, and not just friends history, remarkable. We have had many guides in our years of travel, none knew as much as Susan. She is punctual, tolerant of American children, and fun. She was able to engage and have a reparte with our 10-year-old grandson." Jane, from New York.

 

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. You may also like to check out our YouTube channel. 

A New Website

Loire Valley Time Travel has a new website. It was days and days of work to completely revamp it, but finally we are happy with the result. We would really like you to check it out.

The website address is www.tourtheloire.com.