Travelling in Style in the Loire Valley

The Loire Valley lends itself to an elegant form of transport like the Citroen Traction Avant. Imagine the fun you could have motoring through the countryside, from chateau to chateau, and stopping off for a vintage style picnic.

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 Little Known Memorial in the Loire Valley

After the Second World War a sculptor named Paulette Richon made a number of monuments to those killed in the War. Nowadays, she is virtually unknown, as are the events she was memorialising. But she happened to live in the same village as us, so we have come to know about her story.

The memorial in the photo is to commemorate the liberation of one small town in the Loire Valley, and honour the Resistance fighters who lost their lives so close to the end of the war here. They are buried in the local cemetery, but the memorial is sited at one end of the bridge they fought so determinedly to defend.

This may be small scale local history, but we believe sharing it with our clients enriches their tour, and we hope they are as moved as we are by the lives we recall and weave their stories into the bigger history.

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 Break With a Walking Tour in the Loire Valley

We are predicting that this will be the year of holidays taken in your country of residence, and road trips will rule. We rely on foreign anglophone travellers so it's going to be particularly challenging for us to get through this period while the Covid19 is being managed by closing the borders. We hope that there are plenty of people like us already in France, expatriates and immigrants, who will be travelling when and where they can. Some of you might make it to the Loire Valley and if you do, we'd love it of you stop off during your road trip and do a walking tour with us. Somewhere small, little known but still packed with surprising histories from royals to servant girls. We can bring it all alive for you. And if your thing is nature and photography, then we have walks for that too.

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.

Market Shopping in the Loire Valley With Covid19 Restrictions

One of the best experiences we offer is a chance to walk through a lively and much loved local farmers market in the Loire Valley. Lots of travellers want to see this authentic slice of French life, and we know just the market to show you. You don't have to be in a position to shop -- in small country towns there is always time to simply admire the produce and chat to the producer (who will be delighted to tell you all about what is special about their fruit or cakes or farmhouse cheese or handwoven rugs or whatever wonderful local delicacy it is that they make). We know the producers personally and we shop at the market, regularly buying their excellent products. We can tell you how it is prepared and which Michelin starred chef we saw buying it too.

Shoppers queuing to buy strawberries from a popular local producer in mid-July 2020.

Nowadays there are some changes at the market of course, to keep everyone safe and well. You must wear a mask, and keep your distance from other people in line. But people have adapted well and the market retains its bustling ambiance. A lot of people would rather shop here, outdoors, than go to the supermarket.

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.

Visiting Chateaux Great and Small in the Loire Valley

Today would have been the second day of touring with American clients. We had planned to show them our favourite hidden gem in the Loire Valley, and the absolutely unmissable and best known chateau of the area. It's a nice combination of a chateau that all your friends will have heard of and envy your visit, plus something much more off the beaten track and exclusive. Then we round off with a visit to a really friendly organic winery that makes very drinkable sparkling and still white wine from the most important local grape variety, Chenin Blanc.

The view from one of the towers on the citadel of Loches.

Chateau of Chenonceau.

Sparkling wine maturing in a troglodyte cave.

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.

Some Highlights of the Loire Valley in a Day

Once again we should have been working today. A lovely couple from the US had booked us to see some chateaux and wineries.

Amboise.

We would have picked them up in the lovely town of Amboise, then gone to see the Chateau of Cheverny, with its authentic interior and friendly pack of hounds.

The back of the Chateau of Cheverny.

Lunch would have been in a really authentic workers restaurant in Cour-Cheverny that you never hear English spoken in, serving traditional simple local dishes.

Hounds in the kennels at the Chateau of Cheverny.

Then after lunch a visit to a winery on the edge of town where they grow the local speciality Romorantin variety of grape. There are only 20 producers so this is a wine you will see nowhere else. All of it is sold locally.

Wine at Domaine de Daridan.

Then we were going to spend the afternoon in the wonderful gardens of the Chateau of Chaumont. Both the permanent gardens and the temporary gardens created for the long running annual garden festival are a joy -- contemporary, creative, and always with an element that you could incorporate in your own garden at home, as well as many pieces of whimsical contemporary sculpture.

Installation in a festival garden at the Chateau of Chaumont.

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.

Guided Visit to Chenonceau in the Loire Valley

Chenonceau is by far the most popular site in the Loire Valley to visit, and the third most popular heritage site outside of Paris. There is a good reason for that. It offers lovely surrounds for anyone who just wants a pleasant day in a fabulous setting. But we know that lots of you like a more indepth understanding of a place like this, and this is where we can work with you. If you want to know more about the women who lived here or where the most intriguing graffiti is, we can help you. If you want to know how tapestries like the ones at Chenonceau drove the economy in their day or how the family who currently own the estate saved people in both World Wars, we can help you. Just ask us to include Chenonceau in your personalised tour with us. We would be delighted to do so and you will have made the perfect choice.

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 Sign That Summer is Nearly Over in the Loire Valley

How quickly half the year has gone, even though many of us felt like life had come to a standstill! Just as we are about to experience a summer heatwave, the young swallows are signaling that the season is nearly over. They were born in barns all over the Loire Valley just a few months ago. Now they are gathering on the wires and chattering amongst themselves. They are preparing to travel far away, south to Africa. But don't envy them -- their journey is physically arduous and full of dangers. They would not travel unless they had to -- and they do, for they will not survive the winters here, with nothing to eat and inclement weather.

We hope we will be welcoming back both them and you in the spring of 2021.

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.