Taste a New Wine

One of our favourite wineries, Chateau Gaudrelle, has announced they will be offering a new wine from the end of the year. Alexandre, the owner and winemaker, tells us it is 100% chenin blanc, light, elegant and drinkable.

If you want to be one of the first to taste le Petit Chenin No11, email us and we will design a tour that includes a visit to Chateau Gaudrelle. You will get to see the winemakers at work as well as taste the remarkable range of Vouvray wines made here.And don't forget -- all tours booked and paid for before the end of March 2013 are at 2012 prices.

Getting to the Loire is Easy

The Loire Valley makes an easy day trip from Paris. The TGV (high speed train) delivers a reliable and well priced service. It only takes an hour from Paris Montparnasse to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps (Tours). We meet about half of our clients at the station in Tours, and the train trip becomes part of the holiday adventure. We make sure our clients have full instructions for buying tickets and it all works very smoothly. They comment on how comfortable the train is and admire the way Europeans travel domestically by train as a matter of course. It's all part of having an authentic experience.

If you want a guided tour of the Loire Valley, but don't want to sit on a coach for hours before you even get here, email us and we will design the visit of your dreams. And don't forget -- all tours booked and paid for before the end of March 2013 are at 2012 prices.

Green Rules OK

Spring weather can be unpredictable, with a mixture of warm sun and cool overcast days. The cooler spring weather gives plants a chance to show what green can do. Flowers are slow coming, but in a well designed garden it doesn't matter.

Later in the year this planting scheme will be blood
red and electric blue, but in early May, green rules.

At La Chatonniere in May 2012 Mme Azéroual, wife of the head gardener, who meets and greets visitors at the gate, apologised that not much was in flower because the spring had been unusually cool. Rather than being disappointing though, what strikes you is how good the planting scheme really is. All those different greens and different leaf shapes and textures form eye pleasing patterns quite as effectively as multicoloured flowers do.

If you would like to get ideas for planting schemes from some great Loire Valley gardens, email us and we will create a plant and garden filled tour just for you.