A Top Tip for Getting the Best out of a Guided Tour

If your tour includes a meal organised by the guide do make sure you mention if you have dietary requirements and be specific about them before you settle on an itinerary and book. The guide will take these into consideration when booking or recommending restaurants. 

Valencay cheese, one of the famous Loire Valley goats cheese.

 
In rural France particularly, restaurants often do not offer extensive a la carte menus, but daily changing seasonal limited choice set menus. Don't wait until you are seated in the restaurant to tell your guide that you are vegan, coeliac or lactose intolerant. That will be too late and the restaurant, no matter how sympathetic, may not be able to meet your dietary requirements in a way that you find satisfactory.

The ingredients in the kitchen on a daily basis will be limited and seasonal. Restaurants operate in this way because it is illegal, uneconomical, and disrespectful to waste food in France.  Most French diners in traditional French restaurants have grown up trusting the chefs in these places to produce a delicious meal. Almost everyone will choose the dish of the day. No one will request anything not on the menu, or that a dish is changed to suit them, unless they have diagnosed food allergies.

Visiting the Gardens of Villandry in the Loire Valley

Because the framework of the gardens at Villandry as a whole are so good it is worth visiting at any time of year. But because the most famous part of the garden relies on formal parterres planted with vegetables for their decorative effect, this is not really a spring garden as so many others are. This is a garden which peaks in late summer and early autumn, when all the fruit and vegetables have matured.

This photo was taken on a dull November day at about 5pm when sunset is at 5.30 pm, so light conditions were not the best for taking stunning photographs. Nevertheless, I think you can still get a good idea of how impressive these gardens are.

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. If you would like an idea of how your tour might look and sound, please check out our YouTube channel.

Visit Chenonceau at Any Time

We are often asked if we do tours all year round. The answer is yes and no. We don't generally do chauffeured tours in our classic cars from the beginning of November to the end of March. The cars don't have any heating and the weather can be damp, so not ideal for taking a classic car out of the garage. But I am very happy to meet clients at the chateau of their choice and give a guided tour lasting a couple of hours. I also offer themed visits where we focus on subjects such as tapestries, graffiti or roof spaces -- just ask me about them. The big advantage of visiting the Loire Valley in the winter is that there aren't any crowds, and the chateaux are beautifully decorated over the holiday period. It can be very special.

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. If you would like an idea of how your tour might look and sound, please check out our YouTube channel.