Chateau de Chenonceau

Built on the river Cher, where the unique beauty of its architecture reflects in the water, the Château de Chenonceau is the Val de Loire’s finial.

Château des Dames as recorded in the French history books, Chenonceau owes a large part of its charm to women: it was built in 1513 by Katherine Briçonnet, then made even more attractive by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Médicis, and saved from the rigours of the French Revolution by Mrs Dupin. The lovely surroundings, the formal garden and the park surrounding it add to the impression of delicate grace emanating from the castle.

In rebuilding the Chenonceau château in the 16th century, Thomas Bohier razed the castle-keep and the fortified mill of the Marques family, erecting the new château upon the piers of the former mill and keeping only the ancient donjon: The Marques Tower, which he transformed in Renaissance style. The forecourt reproduces the layout of the former medieval castle demarcated by the moats. Next to the tower, there is also a well decorated with a chimaera and an eagle - the emblem of the Marques family.

Chenonceau is not only remarkable for its architecture and history but also for the fine quality of its collections as can be seen from the inside visit: Renaissance furniture, a vast ensemble of XVI th and XVII th centuries tapestries and a great number of masterpieces. Le Primatice, Rubens, Le Tintoret, Rigaud, Nattier, Van Loo are among the most famous names that can be found there.

Château de Saumur

Built during on the XIVth century for the Ducs d’Anjou, it becomes the house of the governors of the town, then a jail, before being bought by the town in 1906.

The work of rebuilding of the Château doesn't allow the access to the inner rooms of the building. However, you can visit the site from april to september.
The chateau of Saumur was painted by the Limbourg brothers for The Tres Riches Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry. Their painting shows peasants working in a vegetable garden outside the castle walls and gives a glimpse of a pleasure garden within the battlements. But the real of interest of the chateau to garden historians lies in the close correspondence of the old painting to the current form of the chateau: it proves the accuracy of the paintings of garden scenes at the close of the middle ages.

The castle of Loches

Loaches appears in the history in the middle of the 5th century with the construction of a church in the "vicus" (village) of "Luccas" by the Bishop Eustace de Tours. These facts are reported by the Bishop Gregoire, one of his successors, in his "History of the Franks". In 742, the Mayors of the Palate, Carloman and Pépin (future king of the Franks from 751 to 768 and knew under the name of Pépin the Brief) fought battle against Humbold, Duke of Aquitanian and seized Loches. "Luccas" from now on was indicated by the term of "castrum" (castle).The ceaseless quarrels which opposed the counts of Blois to the counts of Anjou from the very start of Xth century, were at the origin of the rise of the castle of Loches which played from now on a dominating part in this fight of being able. The angevin Geoffroi Grisegonelle rebuilds a new church at the end of Xth century, while his son the turbulent Baron Foulques III Nerra (987-1040) made build between the 1013 and 1035 enormous quadrangular keep always visible nowadays. This keep formed part of a network of fortifications encircling the town of Tours, object of all his covetousnesses. It is his son, Geoffroi II Martel (1040-1060), which carried out in the long term opens it paternal: Touraine became angevine in 1044.