The Other Mont Saint Michel

Mont Saint Michel is the second most visited heritage attraction outside of Paris, and most definitely not in the Loire Valley (we can only lay claim to the third most visited heritage attraction...*) but you will sometimes see a sort of link to MSM in our area. Once upon a time, the famous monastry island lent its name to a brand of workwear in France. Both the island and the workwear are household names in France, even though nowadays the clothing company makes more fashion oriented gear. In the 19th and 20th centuries they often advertised using painted signs on the sides of buildings and some of these survive as ghost signs. If you are a fan of ghost signs, let us know and we will be sure to point some out to you as we travel through the villages of the Loire Valley.

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.


*The Chateau of Chenonceau is the third most visited heritage attraction outside of Paris.

The Loire Valley -- a Land of Historic Floods

The Loire Valley is a land of rivers big and small, and with all that flowing water comes beautiful scenery but also historically a risk of flood. All over the Loire Valley there are flood markers showing just how astonishingly high the rivers can get. When you tour with us we will be sure to point out any flood markers we pass. It isn't hard for your imagination to picture how far the surrounding buildings, fields, factories and gardens were inundated and how devastating that must have been.

Flood markers in Tours.

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.

Masks Are Required in the Loire Valley

As a condition of reopening after the Covid19 lockdown eased in France, the Loire Valley's historic chateaux had to devise a one way visitor route, provide hand sanitizer and insist that visitors wear masks inside the chateaux. For vehicles carrying paying passengers that did not install a perspex screen between front and back seats all occupants have to wear masks. Now the government has gone further and masks will be required in all enclosed spaces and many public spaces such as street markets. Masks are not supplied at the entrances to buildings -- it is expected that everyone carries their own mask with them, and many French people are choosing to wear washable cloth masks.

Shoppers wearing cloth masks in the market at Loches, mid-July 2020.

Because we have concerns about how travellers' expectations can be managed we have decided not to take tours at the moment, and probably not for the rest of this year. However, we know that many people are planning for next year and so we are too. By that time everyone will have become more accustomed to the 'new normal' and it will be clearer what can and can't be done. So if you would like to book for next year, we would be delighted to discuss your personalised itinerary!

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.

The Restoration of Notre Dame de Paris

I'll be honest -- Notre Dame de Paris was not somewhere I was ever particularly interested in -- until the fire. Then it immediately became fascinating! There are so many opportunities for conservators, heritage professionals and materials scientists to learn about the building, research the effects of the fire and develop ways of repairing the damage.

In purely technical terms, the fire at Notre Dame was quite typical of any fire in a heritage building. What is different is the emotional bond people from all over the world have to the structure. Whilst this generated a lot of funds for the restoration, it probably does not help the scientists, curators and heritage professionals tasked with the work to do their jobs in the way that they might choose to. Some of the decisions about the repairs are going to be political, and the most obvious case in point is the spire.

Notre-Dame Cathedral Paris, in 2002.

The benchmark for the repair and conservation of heritage monuments is the International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites (sometimes referred to as the Venice Charter of 1964). It's a short (4 page) easy to read document. And Articles 9, 12 and 15 have something to say about what should happen in the case of complete loss of an element of a monument. That something is definitely not to simply recreate the lost element as is going to happen with the spire of Notre Dame. In fact, the Charter indicates that where you must replace, whilst the replacement must fit in terms of scale and style, it must clearly be differentiated from the original material. A common interpretation of this is that it should be the best possible quality but clearly contemporary to when the work was done. This allows respect to be given to modern artisans, shows that the building has a timeline, and above all, prevents the visitor from being deceived.

It seems to me that the decision to recreate the spire of Notre Dame as it was before the fire has been taken as a matter of expediency and because of a sort of romantic sentimentality about the building. The spire those alive today knew and loved was itself a somewhat fanciful addition to the Cathedral, created in the 19th century by the indefatigible heritage architect, Eugene Viollet le Duc. His creation was an interpretation of what the battered 13th century spire would have looked like, before it was removed for aesthetic and safety reasons decades earlier.

Frankly I think a great opportunity has been lost to appropriately pay our respects to a grand old building by giving it a spire that will showcase modern materials, techniques and style. A great shame.

Follow the Leader to Chambord and Beyond

Previous clients who stayed at the delightful Domaine des Hauts de Loire.

We should have been working today, but the Mexican family that we were due to meet at their luxury hotel have postponed their trip to this time next year. Let's hope things have settled down by then and travel is once again safe, comfortable and possible.

The highlight of any visit to Chambord -- exploring the roof.

After taking in the highlights of the magnificent and enormous chateau of Chambord, we were going to lunch at a great little restaurant in Cours Cheverny, where a husband and wife take sometimes unlikely local ingredients and never fail to create a veritable feast. Once we had eaten our fill it was to have been on to the Chateau of Cheverny, to enjoy their ever friendly welcome and appreciate the original interior of the 17th century chateau. To finish off the day we were going to visit the unmissable Chateau of Chenonceau, a glorious place full of history from the Renaissance to the present day.

This may be a pigs ear and some beetroot, but trust us, it was delicious! (Chez Madeleine restaurant, Cours Cheverny).

Because the Mexican family was rather numerous, they were going to drive themselves in their hire car and follow us in our modern car. We call this sort of tour a 'follow the leader' tour, and it's a good compromise when there are too many in a group to fit into our classic Citroens. So if you are travelling in a group of more than 4 people and have your own transport, don't hesitate to ask us about a tour. We can do it!

The lovely rear view of the Chateau of Cheverny.

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.

The Chateau of Chenonceau, forming a bridge across the Cher River.

A Classic Citroen Amongst the Sunflowers

We know that many travellers like to time their visit to the Loire Valley so that they get to see fields of sunflowers. That means coming in July for their peak, but the last week of June or the first week of August there will be some showing too. Every year we scout the local area to find the best sunflower fields that, crucially, we can stop beside for some photos.

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.

Humble Architecture in the Loire Valley

Not every building in the Loire Valley is a chateau. But that's OK, because even the little old humble vernacular buildings that may once have housed animals or stored tools are charming. And touring with Loire Valley Time Travel, rather than a coach company, enables you to see these buildings too, and stop to photograph them.

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.

Prehistory in the Loire Valley

The Loire Valley is a land of milk and honey (quite literally) and often referred to as the 'Garden of France' because of all the food crops that are grown here. It's a great place to live, and always has been, even back in prehistoric times. The evidence of our ancestors' lives is all around us, with dolmens and flint tools sprinkled all over. Not only was the place full of wild food, but the perfect material to make all your tools and weapons abounds here. It was a centre of flint tool making, specialising in high quality flint blades. The cores that the blades were cut from are so commonly found that people use them to decorate their walls. If you have an interest in the prehistoric, let us know and we'll be sure to include something from the Neolithic Age in your tour.

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.