images courtesy of Father Bartholomew on Picassa
Traveling through the country side in the Loire Valley is an odyssey of luscious green fields and old stone towns. Each town comes with it’s requisite church, and of course…it’s magnificent family chateau.
The châteaux, number more than three hundred in this valley alone. Kings began constructing their huge châteaux here, and the nobility, not wanting to be far from the seat of power, followed suit. Their presence in the lush, fertile valley began attracting the very best landscape designers who created some of the most beautiful gardens in the world.
one of the châteaux in the Saumur Area
In 2000, UNESCO added the central part of the Loire River valley to its list of World Heritage Sites, as these chateau represent some of the most magnificent design from the age of Enlightenment and the Renaissance periods. As my trip to the Loire Valley was short (merely a side trip from my main purpose in Geneva)…I only got to see a few, those located close to Saumur and the Moulin Bregeon where we stayed. They were all magnificent.
A château is a manor house or a country house of nobility. The word château is not used in the same way as “castle”, and most châteaux are described in English as “palaces” or “country houses”. They are surrounded by beautiful gardens and usually by land worked by the town people. The one’s I saw on my brief trip to the Loire were usually still owned by members of the original family.
and another family owned Chateau that I hope to see the interior of the next trip!
As a designer I so appreciate the beauty of classic old world homes and the history behind them. As a modern day person I also appreciate the cost and effort it must take to keep these beautiful homes up. Several of the châteaux that I saw have a portion of the home turned into a bed and breakfast. I look forward to a return visit in the near future, with time to tour some of the châteaux interiors.
If you are interested in a personal tour as well, add your name to the growing list. For details you can see my post on Brocantes. For more pictures of these magnificent homes, as well as the rest of the Loire Valley countryside in my small tour, check out the video below. Sante!
Comments
Related Articles
7 Comments
-
I am in love with the picture of the trees!
Pingbacks
-
[…] I continued to post of my experience: visits to world famous chateaux, fabulous local flea markets called brocantes filled with french antiques and accessories, and the […]
Trackbacks
-
Sources…
[…]check below, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, however, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[…]……
-
Gems form the internet…
[…]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[…]……
-
Visitor recommendations…
[…]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[…]……
-
Recent Blogroll Additions……
[…]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]……
-
Cool sites…
[…]we came across a cool site that you might enjoy. Take a look if you want[…]……
