A Remarkable Traveller Visiting the Loire Valley

We don't often get French clients, although some of our American clients speak French very well. But earlier this year we were in for a real treat. Sophie booked a tour for three people with us. She assured us that everyone was quite slender and they were sure they would be comfortable in the back of Claudette together. I assumed the third person was a child, travelling with parents or grandparents. But it turned out that Sophie was French and the third person was the rather marvellous Marguerite, her 90+ year old mother. 

In case you are wondering, they stayed at the luxurious Chateau Louise, near Amboise.

 

Why had they hired us? Well, Sophie was also American, having grown up there, and her husband was American. Marguerite had also lived in the US most of her adult life, having got married and then emigrated so her husband could pursue his medical career. Now she was a widow she had come back to live in Paris and Sophie visits often. Marguerite was well versed in French history, and had visited many of the places we took them, albeit many decades earlier. What was especially nice were her stories about her parents and the circles they moved in (which included being friendly with the chocolate manufacturing Menier family from Chenonceau). Marguerite was very discreet though, pointing out that she was only a little girl at the time, so couldn't pass on any scandal...

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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. 

A Superb Conservation Restoration in the Loire Valley

The three year restoration of the fabulous 15th century Chapelle Saint Hubert, in the grounds of the the Chateau Royal d'Amboise, is finally finished and the building is once more accessible to the public. Quite by chance, I was the first independent guide to take a group there, on Saturday 1 June. My tour group, of American men on a cycling holiday, were the lucky recipients of this treat, and happily posed in front Leonardo da Vinci's grave to commemorate their visit.

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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 Mysterious Graffiti of the Touraine Loire Valley

The tuffeau limestone that is such a feature of the Loire Valley is very soft. Almost all the buildings are made of it, and a great many of them have grafitti. You don't need much to make your mark -- a pocket knife, a nail or maybe just a shard of pottery. Of course, if you carve your initials in a building today, that's vandalism. But if you left a message decades or centuries ago, that's all part of the Loire Valley's rich history.

What happened here in 1940?

If you are intrigued by the many mysteries these graffiti hint at, email us or use our contact form. We will devise a custom tour that allows you to test your puzzle solving skills and introduces you to some history you may not be familiar with.

Rich Histories From Simple Objects in the Touraine Loire Valley

A spring in the woods near where we live in the Touraine Loire Valley.  You can see the water bubbling up from underground. The local legend is that the Devil will appear from it and punish naughty children on nights when there is a full moon. In the 17th and 18th centuries it fed a nymphaeum, one of only two surviving in France, where aristocratic women came to bath and relax. In the 19th and 20th centuries it was where a steam train stopped to take on water on the local line that linked the small villages of the Sud Touraine. The turquoise colour of the water is due to the high mineral content, especially calcium. You only learn this detailed history of place if you have a good guide. If you like to do more than look at the scenery, book a tour with us and be captivated by our local history.

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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. 

Where in the Loire Valley Can You See Extraordinary Historic Graffiti?

The limestone used to construct the beautiful buildings of the Loire Valley is rather soft, so it has tempted those with an urge to leave a message or carve an image for centuries. There are some extraordinary examples of historic graffiti in the Loire Valley. Just let us know that the idea of getting a glimpse into the minds of those who lived in the Loire Valley all those centuries ago intrigues you and we will include some of the more outstanding examples of historic graffiti in your itinerary.

Yes, this extensive frieze of figures is historic graffiti!

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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.