Hardly Anybody Visits the Loire Valley

Maybe you don't believe me that hardly anybody visits the Loire Valley -- after all, there are all these famous chateaux. But it's true. The figures show that the Loire Valley only gets a third of the visitors that Provence gets, and half that of Normandy. If you are interested in travelling responsibly and safely, then we would recommend the Loire Valley. There are lots of activities to do outdoors, only a couple of chateaux receive uncomfortable numbers of visitors, and even then it's only on a few days of the year. Restaurants have lovely outdoor terraces and there are charming picnic spots. It means that you can enjoy your vacation without having to constantly worry that you are putting your health at risk.

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.

Living With Less Choice in the Loire Valley

Restaurants are open again, after their enforced closure during the Covid19 crisis in France. But they are having to manage with some necessary public health restrictions. This means the tables are further apart, which means fewer diners at each service. There is no tradition of double services here for either lunch or dinner, so nobody is rushed out the door so the table can be set again. Restaurants here must manage in other ways. One way they are doing this is reducing waste by no longer offering a la carte, but only offering set menus, usually daily changing to take advantage of seasonal ingredients. For French diners, this is perfectly acceptable as they are used to it. Many workers restaurants already do this for their good value traditional lunches, and there is already a strong existing culture of anti-wastage in the hospitality industry here. But now Michelin starred gastronomic restaurants are joining the trend too. For travellers it can be a really authentic experience to do as the French do every day, and trust the chef to serve them what is good on the day. It saves time, food waste and the risk of multi-page menus that are handled by dozens of people. Now the waiter can just tell you what is being served today and you get to enjoy truly local seasonal food just like a French person does. (And don't worry -- if you really don't like something, or have allergies, the chef will suggest something else for you.)

Pork main course at a small gastronomic restaurant that we use often.

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.

Take a Private Tour in the Loire Valley

The travel industry is predicting that tourism is going to be increasingly based on small group private tours. Luckily for us, that's what we've always specialised in, so we know all the great places that small private groups can go. Naturally we will visit the renowned chateaux that you've all heard of, but we will equally focus on small unknown sites. They are just as full of history, just as photogenic, but it's a chance to visit somewhere quiet, where you can relax and explore at your own pace.

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.

History From the Outside in the Loire Valley

Everyone will be wanting to avoid the crowds and maintain social distancing for some time to come since Covid19 changed our lives so dramatically. It's a dilemma though if you are in Chateaux Country and you want to visit the famous chateaux. There are bottle necks inside, and small rooms that could be packed with people. How can you visit them, have a fulfilling experience, learn about the chateau and stay safe all at the same time? The answer is book one of our 'History from the Outside' tours. We will go into the chateau grounds, which are unfailingly magnificent in their own right, and from the gardens take in all the aspects of the chateau. You will learn all about the characters who lived here, how they influenced the life of the chateau, the nation and even the world. You'll learn about changes in architecture, fashion, diet, transport, medicine and particularly how women's lives waxed and waned in importance and influence over the centuries.

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.

A Visit to Chenonceau During the Covid19 Restrictions

Recently we paid a visit to the Chateau of Chenonceau, who have reopened under strict new regulations to counter Covid19.  Although we can't take travellers there at the moment, we were keen to see for ourselves how they were coping. We were not disappointed -- they've made sensible and professional changes to the visitor route and the sanitation protocol. Hand sanitizer is provided in foot operated dispensers at key locations, masks must be worn and visitors must adhere to the designated route. Staff are on hand to help, happily answering questions and directing any visitor who strays. The florists are working two days a week to continue to provide the amazing displays inside the chateau. Photographers are quickly learning that there are very low visitor numbers so they can take their dream photos from all angles without too much danger of including an unwanted body. We were able to chat extensively with our contacts at the chateau and get a feel for how its going (very well, considering, with some new things working so well they will keep them). Susan was told that she was the only guide who has been to see the new arrangements so far, which we found surprising.

The new temporary disinfectable hand rail up the stairs, and a hand sanitizer station at the top.

We will keep you posted on developments and will be sure to let you know when we are able to start taking travellers to see this wonderful chateau again. 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.

A Tour of the Chateaux of Chenonceau and Cheverny in the Loire Valley

Chateau de Cheverny.

We should have been working today, but our American clients had to cancel their trip to France due to the Covid19 crisis. Here is a glimpse of what we would have been doing with them.

The kennels at the Chateau de Cheverny.

We would have met our clients at their hotel before driving to Cheverny. Cheverny is unique amongst the well known chateaux for being the only one which retains its original decor, and their pack of hounds is a treat for dog lovers.

Lunch was to have been taken at a relais style restaurant before leaving for the Chateau of Chenonceau, the 'must see' chateau of the Loire Valley and once home to Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers. On our way out we would have walked through beautiful gardens.

We would have finished the tour with a visit and tasting at a 1000 year old wine cave.

Chateau de Chenonceau.

Wine tasting in Vouvray.

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.

A Tour of Loches and Montresor

The market in Loches.

We should have been working today, but our American clients had to cancel their trip to France due to Covid19. Here is what we would have been doing.

The historic 11C church of Saint Ours in Loches.

We would have started at Loches, a pretty town with a fine medieval/early renaissance chateau and a great market on Wednesdays. We were to lunch at a stylish restaurant near the town centre before travelling to Montresor, one of the most beautiful villages in France, and its chateau. We were then going visit a small family run wine estate to meet the winemaker and taste his wines.

Chateau of Montresor.

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.

Tasting the new wine at a small AOC Touraine estate.

Half Day Guided Visit to Amboise

As well as doing chauffeured tours in our classic cars, we will also meet you at a chateau and do a guided walking tour.

Royal Chateau of Amboise and Eglise Saint Denis: the residence of kings and the resting place of codebreakers, €150 for 2 people (€30 per person supplement for larger groups) .
This walking tour visits the Royal Chateau of Amboise and the Eglise Saint Denis. The chateau is a well known architectural and historical gem which dominates the small picturesque town. The nearby Saint Denis's Church houses some extraordinary funerary monuments, whose true history is not widely known, even by the locals.

Amboise.

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.

What Has it Been Like Being a Tour Operator in the Loire Valley During the Covid19 Crisis?

The Covid19 crisis has hit the French tourist industry very hard. As small independent tour operators, we have not worked since March, and don't expect to for the rest of this year. It's a bitter pill to swallow, because our bookings were already well up on the previous year and we looked all set for a great year meeting all sorts of interesting and engaged travellers. But it was not to be. The chateaux and restaurants were all ordered to close in mid-March, and all of April, May and June's tours were cancelled (and those in the second half of March). Even after the lockdown eased, it is still not practical for us to work. Our clients are English speakers, mostly American, and France's borders remain closed to people who are not European residents. Guides are not allowed inside the chateaux, masks must be worn everywhere, restaurants must adjust to a new way of operating and so must we. At this point we don't know if we can deliver our tours still booked for the rest of the year (for a start, our clients may simply not be able to get to us, even if we can get to the chateaux now).

Luckily we have been well supported by the French government, who have been providing easy to access monthly income support since March, and we understand this will continue as necessary until the end of the year. Wisely, the government has decided that it doesn't want businesses to cease operating altogether, just temporarily, and in order to facilitate that they are funding a minimum income for a million small businesses like ours. Also luckily, in our particular case, we are completely debt free, and thus in a stronger position to ride out the downturn than some of our friends and colleagues.

We hope that you will be spending your time planning your travel, and that you will consider booking one of our unique and personalised chauffeured tours sometime in the not too distant future. You can be sure that you will be very welcome in the Loire Valley and you will not regret choosing a place so full of history, great food and wine, and friendly, knowlegeable, local guides to make sure you experience the best of this lovely area.

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.

A Tour For Travel Agents in the Loire Valley

Chateau de Chenonceau.

Once again, we should have been working today. This time it was to have been with a pair of delightful travel agents who were scoping out the area. They wanted a feel for the area and a few highlights. Plus one of them had a personal reason for wanting to visit -- her grandfather had been stationed near Tours in World War I and she was curious to see anything that remains of that time here.

Chateau de Cheverny.

We had engaged in a lively and friendly email exchange at the beginning of the year to establish what we were going to do together. They informed us they had some food allergies, so we reassured them that we would discuss this fully with the chef at the restaurant we were planning to use. Also that chefs do most definitely take food allergies seriously (despite of all the stories you might hear about French chefs being very intolerant of their diner's requirements). We told the clients what we knew about the American camps along the Cher and in Tours and suggested that a visit to Chenonceau would give an insight into that period. The World War I hospital there is very evocative and there is some great graffiti on the soft limestone walls of the chateau which was clearly done by convalescing soldiers.

An unusual starter of beetroot and pigs ear served by one of our talented chef partners in Cour Cheverny. It was delicious!

As Chenonceau was on the itinerary, it made sense to pair it with Cheverny, so that they got to see two of the most glamorous chateaux. That meant that instead of a winery, we would visit our favourite goats cheese maker to round off the day.

Our goats cheese maker partner Jean-Luc conducting a tasting.

We were really looking forward to meeting our two clients as we had enjoyed corresponding with them so much. Sadly, we all missed out -- and they will miss the French Open too -- another of their planned destinations. We are all looking forward to arranging something else for next year.

Rather unlikely memorial to WWI American troops in Tours.

If you would like us to take as much care over designing your tour as we did with these travel agents, then 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.