One of the least known of the chateaux in the Loire Valley the Chateau of Candé gets remarkably few visitors. The chateau itself was built for the Briconnet family in 1508, so the same family and the same time as Chenonceau. Then in the mid-19th century it was sympathetically tripled in size by the Drake del Castillo family. The intriguing Franco-American businessman Charles Bedaux bought the chateau in 1927 and retrofitted modern utilities. The stories of these successive families, all wealthy but otherwise quite different in their interests and outlooks, mean that the building can tell a fascinating history based story.
 |
| I bet you can't tell which is the original part and which is the 'new' part. |