Wildlife Conservation Meets Heritage Conservation in the Loire Valley

Because we are actively involved in both heritage and nature conservation in the Loire Valley we are in a unique position to present many conservation projects in a more complex and wholistic way than other tour operators or guides. For example, the recent project to repair lightning damage to a church in Loches that we often take clients to meant that we were invited to participate in a site meeting about how to achieve the building work without disturbing a precious population of nesting Common Swifts. These amazing aerial performers are now in serious decline, a protected species, no longer 'common'. It was our photos which enabled the Head of Technical Services in Loches to pinpoint where the nest entrances are and establish that the scaffolding was not blocking entry and egress. Then an outreach plan to educate and inform the public about the importance of incorporating wildlife into building projects was developed for the municipality of Loches. If you would like to hear more about this, or even if you just want to visit a beautifully preserved medieval town in the Touraine Loire Valley, then book a tour with us. We offer both 3 hour walking tours of Loches, or we can include the town in a chauffeured day trip using our classic cars. And if you are here between May and July you will witness the swifts aerial antics as well as admire some marvellous medieval buildings.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. You may also like to check out our YouTube channel. 

Watching a Baker at Work in the Loire Valley

One of the fun things about many French bakeries, especially the modern ones, is that you can look right past the counter into the kitchen and see the bakers at work. Just another thing to look out for if you are on a tour with us and we have time to pop in to one of our favourite bakeries. And our top tip is that the bread is made from scratch on the premises if the sign over the door says the shop is a 'boulangerie'. French bakers are not allowed to call their shops boulangeries (bakeries) if they do not make the bread on the premise from flour, water, salt and yeast. Many loaves have nothing else, except time because of instead of modern accelerated raising techniques, French bread is given time for the yeast to act naturally on the flour and raise (prove) the bread. This is one of the things that gives French bread its superior taste and texture. Just like our French friends and neighbours, we are passionate about bread. Ask us all about it when you take a tour with us.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. You may also like to check out our YouTube channel. 

The History of Drinking Chocolate in the Loire Valley

Want to buy a simple, inexpensive souvenir of your trip to France? What could be better than a box of drinking chocolate? After all, many people come to France determined to try this famous beverage. What they probably don't know is that the oldest French drinking chocolate is the Poulain brand, and it is sold in every supermarket in the land, not in expensive boutiques. It is truly a treat for anyone with a sweet tooth who loves chocolate. What is more, it is still manufactured here in the Loire Valley, and the brand is owned by a French company. It seems like too good an opportunity to miss. 

The range of drinking chocolates in one of our local supermarkets. Poulain and Nesquik are the market leaders and have been since the 1950s.

Of course, the purists would say that hot chocolate must be made with solid chocolate melted into milk, not this powdered chocolate stuff that is already dosed with sugar. But for the combination of flavour, price and convenience, Poulain has definitely convinced many French people to give it a home on their pantry shelves.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. You may also like to check out our YouTube channel. 

Servicing Our Classic Cars in the Loire Valley

Claudette and Célestine, our classic tour vehicles, are more than 60 years old, so they take a lot of maintenance. Luckily we have a great specialist mechanical team that we can call on, who love Citroen Traction Avants, and know exactly what to do. If you too have a love of old cars, book a special tour of the Loire Valley with us in an old Citroen.

These days the reproduction brake drums are not so perfectly manufactured, so we've had the ones on Claudette skimmed to ensure they are perfectly round and not causing brake shudder.

 

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. You may also like to check out our YouTube channel.