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12 of the Best Châteaux of the Loire Valley

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We recently spent a week’s holiday in the Loire Valley, it is a beautiful part of France and home to some of the best Châteaux. They span centuries of French history in a multitude of different architectural styles. We visited a dozen of the best and here are our thoughts. If you have any questions or suggestions please let us know in the comments.

Château de Villandry

Best for impressive gardens

A late renaissance chateau mostly famous for its stunning gardens. The gardens were created in 1906 using 16^th century designs. They are by far the most impressive of any of the gardens in the Loire and a must visit of any garden enthusiasts. Discover more…

Château de Azay-le-Rideau

Best for a peaceful retreat

Whilst not the grandest or most historical, Château de Azay-le-Rideau wins out with its graceful architecture and peaceful setting on an island in the river Indre. Discover more…

Château d’Ussé

Best for fairytale escapism

If you are looking for a fairy book Château d’Usse is the one for you. The chateau has countless turrets, romantic gardens and is said to have been the inspiration behind Charles Perrault’s version of Sleeping Beauty. The interiors are beautiful if a bit tired around the edges. Discover more…

Forteresse royale de Chinon

Best for military history

An impressive fortress overlooking the town, now mostly in ruins but was once the home to medieval kings and has links to Joan of Arc. It has a good multimedia exhibition on the history of the kings that built the fortress. Discover more…

Château de Chambord

Best for majestic grandness

The largest and grandest of all the Loire chateaux with stunning renaissance architecture and a stately presence. Built by François I as a royal hunting lodge, albeit one with over 400 rooms. In the centre is the chateau’s famous double helix staircase, reputably designed by Leonardo di Vinci. Discover more…

Château Royal de Blois

Best for gory history

In the center of Blois the Château Royal has a bit of a split personality architectural speaking, with medieval, renaissance and classical wings. It has been the site of some important events in French royal history, including a bloody murder sanctioned by King Henri III whilst he hid behind the tapestries. Discover more…

Château de Cheverny

Best for classical beauty

A practically perfect proportioned chateau. Built in the 1630s in the French classical style, Cheverny is the epitome of elegance. Famously it was also the inspiration for Marlinspike Hall in the Tintin comics, it has an exhibition to this link in the grounds. Make sure you visit the kennels in the grounds, Cheverny hunt’s 70 fox hounds live here and are a joy to behold. Discover More…

Château d’Angers

Best for medieval history

A foreboding city center fortress was once home to the powerful Dukes of Anjou. Built overlooking the river Maine the chateaux was strategically very important in the early medieval period. It is also home to the awe inspiring Apocalypse Tapestries house in purpose built galleries added in the 1950s. Discover more…

Château de Chenonceau

Best for feminine elegance

Known as the Ladies’ Château due to the prominent women that built and looked after the place. It is an extremely elegant Château that gracefully spans over the river Cher. It has a fascinating history from medieval kings’ mistresses right up to WWII, the château spanned the border between occupied and free France. Surrounded by beautiful gardens make this one of the most enjoyable in all of the Loire valley to visit. Discover more…

Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire

Best for inspiring gardens

Seemingly a perfect medieval château, Chaumont-sur-Loire was built as a defensive fortress in the 14^th Century, although it was quickly developed into the renaissance style and was significantly renovated in the 19^th Century. It has gorgeous views over the Loire, and wonderful gardens that are well worth exploring. Each summer the International Garden Festival is held in the grounds, worth a visit. The château and grounds also houses some excellent contemporary art. Discover more…

Château Royal d’Amboise

Best for impressive views

Majestically located on a rocky outcrop overlooking the charming town of Amboise. Not much is left of the once impressive château but in the remaining rooms you still get a sense of the royal splendour from the 15^th and 16^th centuries. Make sure to visit the chapel of Saint-Hubert where Leonardo da Vinci, who lived in the nearby Clos Lucé, is buried. Discover more…

Château de Saumur

Best for storybook silhouette

Situated high above the genteel town is the fairytale Château de Saumur, mostly built in the 13^th century on the site of an earlier fortification it has a graceful silhouette with plenty of towers, pinnacles and chimney stacks. Discover more…

22nd June 2016

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Top Five | Return from our Holidays

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We are back from France after having an amazing holiday in The Loire Valley. It is such a beautiful part of the world, we will share our adventures in some further posts but in the mean time lets look at this weeks top five!

One

The reason we started our Cocktail of the Week feature was because we found ourselves with far too many bottles of obscure spirits lurking in the back of the cupboard. We have started to make a dent in these supplies so we thought we should start to replenishes them. We have brought home, Cointreau (an Orange flavoured liqueur), Crème de Cassis (Blackberry liqueur) and Crème de Violette (Violet liqueur). We are excited to see what cocktails we can make with these new ingredients!

Two

Finding souvenirs when we are on our travels is always a tricky endeavour. One one hand we always like to have a reminder of the places we visit but on the other hand most souvenirs are just not very good. That is why we were excited to find these Gien plates of a couple of the chateaux we visited. We have recently started collecting blue patented plates for an interior design idea we are working on.

Three

Staying in self catering accommodation in a tiny village meant we stayed in most nights and enjoyed cooking with local ingredients to make lovely traditional french dishes. To help with the recipes we packed a second hand copy of Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking which despite being over 50 years old is still a fantastic resource. Needless to say we had some fantastic meals accompanied by some lovely wines.

Four

Whilst wandering around the grand gardens and the quite little towns of the Loire Valley we kept on noticing the same climbing rose again and again. These beautiful old-fashioned flowers are pink on the inside fading to a cream on the outside. Being suitably charmed by this flower we had to find it’s name, after a bit of searching (and a visit to a garden centre in Tours) we discovered it is Rosa ‘Pierre de Ronsard’ also known in the UK as the Rosa ‘Eden 88’.

Five

Every time we come back from holiday we are full of ideas and inspiration. Whilst we were in France Rich was inspired but the gardens, Calum inspired by the food and drink and we were both inspired by the property and interiors. Seeing as Rich has a love of magazines he decided to bring back Campagne Décoration to keep the ideas flowing!

20th June 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Elderflower Martini

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Inspiration for cocktail of the week comes from a few places. At the minute it is mainly the garden. In Rich’s parents garden there is a fantastic elder tree that has recently gone into flower and it now covered in white elderflowers. We tend to use elderflower in a few things, oh alright, mainly drinks! We wanted to try something that would give us a good flavour of the elderflower and little else. The best thing for that was to have an Elderflower Martini!

There is no record of where a martini first came to life, but there are a fair few versions that are similar to what we know as a martini. It is thought that the brand Martini did some successful marketing in the 1860s and ended up with the drink named after them. I think I prefer the theory that the cocktail was first created by a bartender in the town of Martinez and the drink named after the town. Regardless of the source, it became a very popular drink in the USA during the 1920s prohibition due to the ease of manufacturing illegal gin. To settle any argument, a classic martini contains gin! The vodka martini first appeared in the 1930s and were popularised by James Bond. Also, on no account should a gin martini be shaken!

For this week’s cocktail, you will need:

½ Measure of Elderflower Liqueur
Teaspoon of dry vermouth
2 measures of gin

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the vermouth. Shake to cool the vermouth and pour into the glass. If you prefer a drier martini, you can do what Winston Churchill did and face France and bow before adding the gin. Swirl the vermouth in the glass to coat the surfaces. Add the elderflower liqueur. Then and some ice to a clean cocktail shaker pour in the gin and stir. Once the gin is sufficiently cooled, pour it into the glass. You can then garnish how you like, as we used elderflower, we chose not to add a garnish.

There you have it, the elderflower martini. Now sit back, enjoy and if you need it drier, do what Winston would have done and tip the glass to France.

16th June 2016

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Top Five | En France

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We are on our holidays! So this week we might be quieter than normal…. we might also just be posting lots of pictures of France! But first let’s take a look at last week’s top five!

One

By the time you read this we will be holidaying in The Loire Valley. We are staying near to Tours in a little village called Courleon in a cute holiday cottage. The plan is to visit as many chateaux as possible, eat as much cheese as possible and drink as much wine. We’ll let you know how we get on!

Two

France twice in one week? Well that is exactly what Calum has done, his work meant he had to go to the airbus factory in Toulouse. This is a place that Rich’s grandfather use to visit regularly when he was a production manager on Concorde. As a reminder of Papa we have this awesome picture of Concorde on our wall, it was give to him as a retirement present, we inherited it on his passing.

Three

As a bit of a treat to ourselves we bought this gorgeous Peppermint Tea & Thyme scent. It is part of Wax Lyrical’s range made in partnership with Fired Earth. It was actually a tough decision which one to choose as the whole range smells gorgeous but in the end the freshness of this scent won out.

Four

It has been busy around the cottage as Rich’s parents are frantically getting their garden really for it’s annual opening. They have been opening their garden for over 10 years as part of a village garden safari and also as part of the National Gardens Scheme. If you fancy coming along to either of these openings you’d be more than welcome!

Five

As well as Annie the cat and Hettie the dog, the cottage has some other residents. We have a dove cote in the garden with population of white fan tailed doves. The dove coot was a 25th wedding anniversary present from Rich’s Dad to his Mum. The Doves are highly entertaining creatures, watching them go about their live gives us all no end of pleasure, especially when the baby doves (know as squabs) arrive!

13th June 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Raspberry Collins

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This week we dived into the drinks cabinet to try find a bottle that was nearly finished to create our cocktail of the week. It is tough all this cocktail drinking! It is however, quite fun learning about cocktails and we will continue with the hardship of creating and sampling drinks from our random collection of spirits for you. Who knows, we might actually get good at this. In the drinks cabinet we found a bottle of Absolut Raspberry Vodka that was nearly finished. We did little bit of research to see if there was anything we could use it for and we came across the Raspberry Collins. This drink comes from the ‘Collins’ cocktail family and there appears to be many relations in this family. We will have to try these in the future.

For this weeks cocktail, you will need:

1 measure of simple syrup
1/2 measure of fresh lemon juice
2 measures raspberry vodka
soda water
raspberries

Firstly, if you have not made a syrup before it really is simple. To make ours, we add 300 grams of sugar 60 ml of water, place it over heat and stir until it is a clear liquid. As it cools it will come a thick liquid.

To prepare the drink, start by adding some ice to a tall glass, add the syrup, lemon juice and vodka to the glass and stir well to mix them together. Fill the rest of the glass with soda water and garnish with a few raspberries. That’s it, you now have a Raspberry Collins.

The drink is refreshing and very easy to make. You can make this in a jug quite easily by multiplying the ingredients for number of people you are making it for. Perfect for an evening of drinks in the garden with friends. It will certainly be on our repertoire of cocktails in future.

9th June 2016

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Days Out | Hardwick Hall

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A couple of weeks back, when driving north for the weekend we stopped of at the gorgeus Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire for a look around. We wanted to break our journey north somewhere and scouring the map we discovered Hardwick Hall, it was about halfway on our drive and only a few minutes away from the motorway junction. It made a very welcome break, it was a perfect bit of escapism!

Hardwick Hall is an Elizabethan country house created by the indomitable ‘Bess of Hardwick’ one of the richest women in the country. Bess was born into a minor gentry family but with a succession of advantageous marriages ended up an incredibly wealthy Countess residing at Hardwick.

At Hardwick there are two building, the ruins of Hardwick Old Hall and the breathtaking Hardwick New Hall. The old hall, started in 1587, was built on Bess Father’s estate. The new hall was started in 1590 before the old hall was even finished. They were intended to compliment each other, akin to being two wings of the same building. Over time the old hall went to ruin, and was partially pulled down, it is now a romantic ruin. Despite it being in ruins there is still plenty to see, including climbing to a timber viewing platform to view some of the surviving plasterwork and to enjoy some spectacular views.

A short walk away at Hardwick New Hall, Bess’ wealth was on display for all to marvel at. The house has an abundance of glass windows, an expensive luxury at the time. The turrets are topped with the initials ES for, Elizabeth Shrewsbury, the Countess of Shrewsbury, Bess’ full name and title. Such a grand house takes time to appreciate, there are many highlights including the long gallery and the High Great Chamber.

Looked after by The National Trust there are a couple of well presented exhibitions about previous residents of Hardwick Hall. This first is about Lady Arbella Stuart, Bess granddaughter with royal blood and a potential heir to Queen Elizabeth. The second is about Evelyn, Duchess of Devonshire the last lady to reside here. Evelyn saw the world change from stuffy Victorian society into the swinging sixties. She was an hands on countess and a lifelong friend of Queen Mary, acting as her mistress of the robes. We loved finding out about the history of these two fascinating ladies and their time at Hardwick.

The gardens and grounds surrounding the hall offer plenty of excuses to get outside. There are various marked walks around the estate, offering beautiful views off the Halls and of the Derbyshire countryside beyond. We also stopped off at Standby Mill located on the estate, which shows how a 19th century flour mill would have worked.

We found a beautiful spot on the estate near the mill to have our picnic, but being a National Trust property there looked to be a very lovely cafe near the house. If you are in need of something stronger, Hardwick Inn, a traditional pub is located by the south gate to the grounds.

Hardwick is a fascinating and beautiful place, situated in a glorious location. It has easy access from the motorway and plenty of things to see and enjoy. We loved it.

Find out more at The National Trust and English Heritage

7th June 2016

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Top Five | June’s arrival

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So June is here, and despite the cold weather during the week the weekend turned out rather pleasant. Let’s see what is in this weeks top five:

One

June means it is Peony season! Peonies are probably both of our favourite flowers, so having a bunch around the place makes us very happy. And despite its short season it is probably also one of our favourite garden plants. There is something about their big blouse blooms that make us very happy!

Two

We went out house hunting on Saturday, as I am sure most of you know finding the perfect new home can be very stressful. Whilst we were out an about we popped into Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants near Whitchurch, Hampshire. What a great little nursery, full to the brim of lots of interesting and unusual varieties. Well worth a visit!

Three

After pondering it for a while we finally bit the bullet and bought a GoPro. We have been thinking about getting one for a while and ahead of our holiday to France next week we thought now would be a great opportunity. So far it has mainly been used for a couple of selfies (see below) and many many pictures of the pets.

Four

Sunday was glorious weather so we decided to go for a picnic with our good friends Ben & Lauren, and their son (and our godson) Dexter. We headed off to Alice Holt Forest and did their Gruffolo trail. It is great outdoors adventure for little people!

Five

It is our five year anniversary on 6th June. Doesn’t time fly? Back in 2011 we met for a beer in a central London pub and instantly hit it off. Rich had written a spoof job advert about what he was looking for in a boyfriend and had shared it via twitter, one of the ‘job requirements’ was to be over 6″1, Calum responded that at 6″6 he qualified. The rest, as they say, is history!

6th June 2016

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Cocktail of the Week | Old Fashioned

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For this week’s cocktail of the week, we delved into the history books again for a very classic cocktail, the Old Fashioned. This cocktail is probably one of the oldest recorded in the history books. Its recorded history possibly dates back to 1806 in one form or another. Depending on your chosen source, it appears to have a very mixed history; from a gentlemen’s club in Kentucky to The Waldorf Astoria in New York. The only thing for certain is that you can tell it is old, the glass it is traditionally served in, the ‘old fashioned glass’, is named after the drink!

For this historic drink, you will need;

Whiskey (a bourbon or rye one)
Ice cubes
Orange twist
Cocktail cherry
Sugar cubes
Angostura bitters
Plain water

To prepare the drink, take the old fashioned glass, if you don’t have one a low ball or tumbler will suffice, and place the sugar cube in the glass. Add two dashes of Angostura bitters, saturating the sugar and then add a dash of water. Using a muddle, muddle the ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved. Next, pour the whiskey into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake to cool the whiskey and then pour over the sugar in the glass. To serve, garnish with an orange twist and cocktail cherry. We didn’t have any oranges so couldn’t add the twist. Instead we relied on the cocktail cherries to garnish the drink.

You can imagine the appeal of the Old Fashioned cocktail in the 1800’s or early part of the 19th Century. A cold, sweetened whiskey would have been a pleasant drink to have on a hot afternoon. We would be very happy to be in New York, sitting at the bar of the Waldorf Astoria enjoying this drink, but there again, who wouldn’t!

2nd June 2016

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Orchard Escapes | Exploring the Yorkshire Coast

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We have recently returned from a few days visiting Calum’s goddaughter and her family up in North Yorkshire. They live just outside Scarborough, and it makes a great base for exploring the Stunning Yorkshire Coast. This is what we got up to.

Whitby

Whitby is a lovely old fishing town, famous for its black jet, it’s ruined abbey and it’s goth scene. The town is split in two by the river Esk, the older town being on the east bank and the new part on the west bank. Both sides are full of independents shops, cafes and pubs making the town a perfect place to while away a couple of hours.

From the old town you can climb the 199 steps to St. Mary’s Church (Calum counted them to be sure they got it right!) and the atmospheric ruins of Whitby Abbey. This offers amazing views over the town. The Abbey was inspiration for Bram Stoker’s gothic novel ‘Dracula’

Historically, the town is proud of being the birth place of Captain Cook. You can visit the memorial, go to the Captain Cook Museum or go on a boat trip around the harbour and along the coast on the Bark Endeavour, a replica of the HMS Endeavour at 40% Size.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway starts in Whitby. The Steam trains take you on an 18-mile heritage route that goes into the Yorkshire Moors National Park ending at Pickering.

More recently, and given that Whitby is a harbour town, it is also famous for its fish and Chips. Our recommendation was for Magpies Cafe although we didn’t get to try it this trip, we will be shore the go next time, by all accounts it is a Whitby institution!

Before we left we bought some local food and drink from Whitby Deli. We picked up some great Whitby Brewery beers, our favourite being the Abbey Blonde.

Robin Hood Bay

One of the most picturesque places on the Yorkshire Coast is Robin Hood Bay, an historic fishing (and smuggling) village located five miles south of Whitby. Robin Hood Bay’s main attraction it is large beach which is perfect for fossil hunting. You need to park at the top of the town and wander down the steep lane to get there. On the way down you pass charming shops, cafes and pubs. At the bottom you will find the Old Coastguard Station, a National Trust visitors centre to help you get a sense of the natural history of the area.

There are a couple of welcoming looking pubs near the beach but we decided to have fish and chips form Mariondale Fisheries and sat overlooking the bay to enjoy them.

Ravenscar

Ravenscar is a tiny village between Whitby and Scarborough has an interesting history dating back to Roman times. After popping into the National Trust visitor centre we headed on one of the self-guided walks. The views are stunning looking north back to Robin Hood Bay but you’ll need to have had your Weetabix as the route is pretty steep!

The Walk takes in the ruins of the Alum works. Alum was an important chemical in the production in of textiles, used for fixing dyes. Between the 16^th and the 19^th centuries the Yorkshire Coast was key to the Alum industry. The ruined works at Ravenscar are well preserved and allows you to get a good idea how the process operated. Should you fancy you can actually rent a holiday cottage here, perfect if you are looking for a remote get away with spectacular coastal views.

In the late 19^th Century plans were drawn up to turn Ravenscar into a rival holiday resort to Scarborough. Roads and sewers were put in place in preparation of the growth of the town, but the developers went bust before the scheme could get off the ground.

Ravenscar is also the the highest point on The Cinder Track, a cycle path between Scarborough and Whitby which sits on the route of a disuse railway.

Scarborough

If you are looking for the quintessential seaside town Scarborough is the place to visit. Claiming to be the country’s first seaside resort, Scarborough boasts everything you’d expect; arcades, donkey rides, fish & chips, plenty of places to eat and drink, and an relaxed seaside vibe.

There are two main beaches in town: South Bay Beach is a sandy beach near the town centre and shelter by the headland. North Bay is quieter but it is also a blue flag beach, meaning it is one of the cleanest in Europe. We were lucky enough to have the use of one of the North Bay’s beach huts so we spent most of our time up here.

At the end of the North Bay is the Sea Life Centre & Marine Sanctuary in addition to their selection of marine life on show they have the only Seal Hospital on the Yorkshire Coast. You can get to the Sea Life Centre along the minature North Bay Railway. They also have a pirate themed adventure golf course (We are MASSIVE adventure golf fans!)

On the headland between the beaches is Scarborough Castle. This medieval keep is in a commanding location, it would have been a spectacle to behold and easy to defend. The castle is mostly ruined now, but it is great to walk around and learn about the 3000 year history of the site.

We hope you have found our little guide helpful, if you have any extra tips please let us know in the comments section. For more information of visiting the Yorkshire coast take a look at the office tourist guide website www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com

1st June 2016

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Top Five | Spring Bank Holiday

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It was another Bank Holiday weekend so we decided to make the most of it by visiting Calum’s goddaughter up in Yorkshire. We’ll share our thoughts on the North Yorkshire Coast in another post but in the meantime lets look at our top five!

One

Whilst we were away we managed to fit in four National Trust properties (and three English Heritage ones). As fans of history, architecture, gardens and countryside, membership of the National Trust is a must for us. We are on a mission to visit 10% of their properties before the year is out. We are currently at 4.5%!

Two

There is an old saying “When Gorse is out of bloom, Kissing is out of fashion” we often remark on this when we are out and about. Luckily for us romantics out there Gorse flowers prolifically so one of the three native species of Gorse is always in flower somewhere. Pucker up!

Three

Despite our Cocktail of the Week feature, we’re actually mostly beer drinkers. So whilst in Yorkshire we took the opportunity to sample some local brews, we opted for lighter or golden ales to go with a BBQ we were having. All were very tasty and we can recommend any of them.

Four

Whilst wandering around Whitby we found a shop selling vintage glass bottles and we bought a couple for home. We wish we knew more about collecting vintage bottles. One of us will read up on it at some point but in the meantime we’ll just enjoy them as beautiful and interesting objects!

Five

This week we said goodbye to an old friend of ours after a very brave battle with cancer. She was an inspiration to us; accepting, kind, miscievious and lived her life to the full. We will miss her dearly but we will take her lead, we’ll make the most of life, and seek out adventures she’d be proud of!

30th May 2016

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