Cheese in the Loire Valley

In my experience travellers to the Loire Valley are divided into two sorts of people. The first are already fans of goats cheese. The others are people who have tried goats cheese elsewhere, and think they don’t like goats cheese. Once they try any of the Loire Valley cheeses they discover a new food that they love, and from then on are hooked.

Selles sur Cher and Sainte Maure de Touraine goat cheese.

All of the traditional cheeses in the Loire Valley are goats milk cheeses (usually referred to as ‘chevre’ in French) and the area is known for them. The biggest selling goats cheeses in France come from here and there are protections in place to ensure the product is what the label says it is. If you would like to learn about how they are made (as well as taste some of course) then let us know when you book your tour with 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.

Pears In the Loire Valley

 

Like apples and cherries, pears do extremely well in the Loire Valley. The perfect climate for them here has resulted in many very old gnarled pear trees in farmyards and along country roadsides. These old, semi-wild pear trees have fruit that is very large and woody. They are not for eating fresh, and even cooked they are not always successful, so mostly now they become food for omnivorous wildlife such as martens and badgers.

Doyenne de Comice and Nashi pears in my orchard.

To find out the surprising ways pears are (or were) used in the Loire Valley and why there are so many pear trees in the landscape book a tour with 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.

A Conversation About Bread in France

Organic sourdough bread at my local market.

 

A few months ago I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Annie Sargent from Join Us In France about bread. She recorded our conversation as one of her weekly podcasts, and you can listen to it here [link].

Using the baguette vending machine in a nearby village.

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.

World War Two French Resistance in the Loire Valley – Remembering the Communists.

8 May is Victory in Europe Day and there will be commemorations all over to celebrate the end of the Second World War in Europe. The memorial plaque on the town hall in the photo is in a tiny village in the Touraine Loire Valley and names two local Communists who joined the Resistance and were killed. The ceremony in the village will begin at the town hall, with the laying of wreaths, then villagers will march to the cemetery, a few hundred metres away, where more wreaths will be laid at the foot of the War Memorial. Then there will be drinks and cake in the village hall.

 

If you would like to learn more about the Resistance in the Touraine Loire Valley and hear the stories of personal courage from ordinary people then book a tour with 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.

Joan of Arc in the Loire Valley: Chinon and Convincing the King

When she first arrived in Sainte Catherine de Fierbois, near Tours, from the north-east of France, Joan stayed in the pilgrim hostelry, dressed in men's clothing, with her six male companions, on her way to see the Dauphin Charles, on 4 and 5 March 1429. From here she wrote Charles a letter requesting to see him. He responded favourably and sent two men to escort her to Chinon.

Medieval pilgrim hostelry (now town hall) that Joan stayed in.

If you want to know how the rest of the story goes, book a tour with 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.

Apples in the Loire Valley

Apples are the most popular fruit in France, with each French person eating on average 16 kilos of apples annually (followed by 12kg of bananas and 10 kg of oranges). The three most popular eating and culinary apple varieties in France are Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Reine des Reinettes. In France there is no prejudice against apples that are not red, and sweet, not too acidic apples that retain their form when cooked are preferred.

My local organic orchardist at the market, with an old variety of apple that he has been unable to identify.

When people think of apples and France they normally bring to mind Brittany and Normandy. But we would like to introduce you to the dessert apples of the Touraine 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.

Joan of Arc in the Loire Valley

Joan of Arc, or Jeanne d’Arc as she is called in French, spent most of the part of her life that history regards as significant in the Loire Valley. Mind you, that’s not a very long time – she arrived here from her birthplace in the north-east in March 1429, and just over a year later she was captured by the Burgundians and her fate sealed. Living as I do in the Loire Valley, I ‘meet’ Joan in Chinon, Loches, Tours and Sainte Catherine de Fierbois. Orléans, also in the Loire Valley, where her association with the city is better known, is a bit far east for me and outside my home territory, so I won’t relate events there. Following in the footsteps of Joan of Arc in the Touraine Loire Valley will take you through some of the most attractive landscapes and towns the area has to offer.

Of course, Joan can be encountered in literally any and every French church all over the country. Curiously though, the focus on her as a cult figure is relatively recent. She has always been a heroine for genuinely saving the kingdom of France, but it was not until after the shock of the Prussian invasion in 1870-71 that campaigning really gained popular momentum to have her declared a saint. She was adopted as a symbol of French independence and resistance, and all over France communities raised money to erect statues in her honour. She was finally declared a saint in 1920.

 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.

Cherries in the Loire Valley

Cherries are one of my favourite fruits, but I never lived anywhere that they grew well until I moved to the Loire Valley. They absolutely thrive here and many people have one in their garden. I have eight in my orchard. They also grow wild in the forests, and are a part of the indigenous mix of broadleaf decidous species in natural woodland here. If you love cherries too, let us know when you book your tour with 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.