Chambord and Cheverny Tour

We should have been working today, with Australian clients who had planned to stay at the comfortable and friendly Clos d'Amboise Hotel then join us for two days of touring, but the Covid-19 lockdown has prevented them coming and they've had to cancel their trip altogether. Today would have started with a morning at the huge chateau of Chambord, then lunch at a large and popular workers restaurant in the nearby village of Bracieux. After a simple but generous lunch surrounded by locals we were going to visit the Chateau of Cheverny, with its wonderfully original interior and pack of lolloping hounds. To round off the day we would visit a small family run winery where our travellers get to taste a wine made from a rare grape variety only found in this small area of the Loire Valley. Good Friday is not a holiday in France, so businesses are all open normally.

On the roof of the Chateau of Chambord -- the highlight of a visit to this vast hunting lodge.

Tulips from a previous year at the Chateau of Cheverny. The photos the Chateau are posting on social media for this year are of a truly magnificent display. Such a shame the public won't get to see them.

The Daridan family have been winemakers for generations.

To enquire about our private guided tours of chateaux, wineries, markets and more email us or use our contact form. More tour ideas can be found on the Loire Valley Time Travel website.

Mistletoe in the Loire Valley

Travellers who come early in the year to tour with us in the Loire Valley often ask what the green balls in many of the otherwise bare trees are. Sometimes they guess it must be mistletoe, but often they have never seen real mistletoe and are delighted to discover that it is abundant in the Loire Valley. In France there are much the same traditions of hanging mistletoe over a door or a fireplace at Christmas time that there are in anglophone countries. Kissing under the mistletoe is a way of signaling that you are betrothed, and mistletoe is a symbol of good luck and prosperity.

To enquire about our private guided tours of chateaux, wineries, markets and more email us or use our contact form. More tour ideas can be found on the Loire Valley Time Travel website.

Extraordinary Graffiti in the Loire Valley

Who are these characters? Where are they? Who created them? What are they depicted doing?

All these questions and more will be answered if you book a tour for us and request to see them. You won't find them on the regular tourist trail, you need to be a bit off the beaten track. But trust us, it's fascinating, and totally worth it. And you will get a surprise when we reveal who created them (no, it wasn't us...)

To enquire about our private guided tours of chateaux, wineries, markets and more email us or use our contact form. More tour ideas can be found on the Loire Valley Time Travel website.