Château Villandry - an exquisite day trip from Chinon.
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Episode 23
Guest: Anne Lock
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In this episode of the podcast I chat with my darling cousin and dear friend Anne Lock about a “grandes vacances” our family took in 2015 to France. Twenty of us met for a week in Paris and then most of us travelled for an extra week to the quaint village of Chinon in the Loire Valley.
Chinon is a place steeped in history and for the most part seems fairly unchanged over the past few hundred years. It has petit ruelles (little laneways) and divine little boutiques which look like magical fairytale shops! There is an amazing farmers market and loads of touristy things to occupy all the generations we travelled with. But the best thing for all of us was the way it slowed down our daily life. The village has a way of enveloping you, and cushions all in that embrace with a warmth that will permeate any holiday with wonderful memories.
So we all met up in Paris for a week and then travelled by train to Tours which is a lovely town in the Loire Valley. I have travelled by train a lot in France and have chatted about some of the pitfalls before in other podcast episodes, but I will reiterate that getting on and off trains in France is swift and there is never enough room for luggage, so be prepared to sort yourselves quickly!
I have also mentioned car hire before on other episodes with the issue of multiple train stations at the same town but we had a different problem on this trip. The car hire office closed earlier than advertised! Luckily there were loads of us with cars hired from other offices still open, but it is worth noting if collecting a car on the weekend that the hire offices are not always open for extended hours in French regional areas.
Anne and I chatted about our experience with châteaux:
More links and details of our amazing vacances with 3 family generations coming soon xx
For more assistance in planning a trip to the Loire visit French Cottages. Their travel guide puts all others to shame and the accommodation is sorted with ease!
