Loire Valley part 4 - Chiverny

 



Chiverny is more of a stately manor home which today is still owned privately by the same family for 100's of years.  It is of course open to the public and there are some parts which are private for the family.  It is much smaller than the other chateaus we visited however it has a lot of charm particularly when you see the smaller gardens and the hound dogs....

 

 

When you enter the main gate, you see these giant palms.



The sign reads "Chateau for sale"

 

The Chateau

Outlining garden wall

Outlying buildings

Park like setting at the front of the chateau

 

My little winter home !



They have a large number of hound dogs which perform
each evening at 5pm



The dogs are trained professionally on site.



Outer building which is a small museum

Lovely garden - small and intimate

 

 

There was a number of these large palms across the property

 

 

After a very long day, we drove back along the Loire River and took other photos of the countryside and a few more chateaus.  We also stopped at a winery to purchase some wine.  I bought a few bottles for my colleagues in Venlo which was appreciated...

Loire Valley - Part 3 - Chambord

Saturday morning we were out and about at 8am, picking up a quick breakfast at the hotel, then driving east to Chambord our next chateau.  Again, we had to walk about 1 km to get to the chateau and then around it to the rear which was about another half km.  Sad part is there is graffiti and people have carved their names into some areas of the roof top. 

So huge but grand - 5 storeys



Roof top of Chambord

There was a large equestrian centre on the property and
it has its own police force.

Side view



English church near the chateau

Many people dressed in traditional clothing which
would have been worn at the time.

Garden near the English church

Actual rear entrance to the court yard

Rear garden area where horses  are kept

Loire Valley - Part 2

I have been extremely busy the past few weeks so I will make a few posts now to try to catch up! 
Today, my Dad arrived here and spent the day driving (its a 4-hour round trip from the Schiphol airport near Amsterdam to my home in Venlo).  But let's get back to my fabulous Loire Trip...

After we did Villandry on the Friday, May 8th, we spent the afternoon at Chenoceau which is actually located about 15-minutes from our hotel in Ambrois.  It is quite a walk to get to the chateau as you can see from the photo below.  It's about 1 km to the chateau but well worth the walk. 

 

Used to be the stables - now converted to restaurant and cafe



Once you get to the end of the 1 km walk, this is
a large open area which approaches the chateau
 

Moat and bridge to the chateau

The café near the Catherine de Medici garden



Catherine de Medici garden.  She built it once she removed
Diane (former mistress of Queen Catherine's husband, King Henry)
once Henry died.



Flowers along the garden wall



Catherine's garden with the main water feature



Chenoceau from Catherine's garden



My little summer place :-)



River Thee



As the chateau is in the river, you can rent
a small canoe and paddle about!

 On Saturday we headed out to Chambord.  It is about 60 km east along the Loire River from Ambrois.  I will post its photos next....