Loire Valley - Part 1

Short drive today from Chambord to Onzain, so I took the long route along the Loire River and spent a good part of the day at the Château de Chenonceau.  Spanning the languid Cher River atop a graceful arched bridge, Chenonceau is one of France's most elegant châteaux.

• The spectacular complex is largely the work of several remarkable women (hence its nickname, Le Château des Dames).  The initial phase of construction started in 1515 for Thomas Bohier, a court minister of Charles VIII's, although much of the work and design was actually overseen by his wife, Katherine Briçonnet.  
• The distinctive arches and the eastern formal garden were added by Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henri II.  Following Henri's death Catherine de' Médici, the king's widow, forced Diane (her 2nd cousin) to exchange Chenonceau for the rather less grand Château de Chaumont.  
• Catherine completed the château's construction and added the yew-tree maze and the western rose garden.
• Chenonceau had an 18th-century heyday under the aristocratic Madame Dupin, who made the château a center of fashionable society; guests included Voltaire and Rousseau.  During the French Revolution she was able to save the château from destruction.
• The château was used as a military hospital during WWI.
• It served from 1940 to 1942 as an escape route for résistants, Jews, and other refugees fleeing from the German-occupied zone (north of the Cher) to the Vichy-controlled zone (south of the river).

The gardens at the château were magnificent (especially the Vegetable Garden)!  As you are facing the castle (when walking in), the smaller garden on the right is the Catherine de Médici garden and the larger garden to the left is the Diane de Poitiers garden.  This year a new garden was added at Chenonceau based on drawings that were found from the 1950s by acclaimed British garden designer Russell Page.  The gardens are overseen by American gardener Nicholas Tomlan.  He came to France for this job from Longwood Gardens, PA (named the best botanical gardens in the US).

I walked the gardens for quite awhile and had lunch at the café (they also have a gourmet sit-down restaurant).  Although I probably should have -- I didn't go inside the château -- it was just too nice outside!  (at all of the châteaux that I visited -- there is a charge for visiting the gardens + an additional charge for touring around inside the châteaux).

After my visit to Chenonceau, I drove back across the Loire and to my accommodations for the next two nights.  Hidden away in 180-odd acres of forest, Les Hauts de Loire was originally the relais de chasse (hunting lodge) of Château d'Onzain.  Both castle and hunting lodge were destroyed during the French Revolution and only the latter was rebuilt -- between 1845 and 1865 by the son of a Parisian editor and bookkeeper.  The hotel has two restaurants - (1) in the main house (with no apparent name) -- run by two-starred Michelin chef Rémy Giraud, and (2) the Bistrot -- also under the control of Rémy G -- and housed in a separate building near the vegetable garden.  The hotel also makes its own chocolate creations and honey -- both fantastic!

I absolutely loved my stay at Les Hauts.  I had dinner at the main restaurant the first night and at the Bistrot the second night.  Both meals were fantastic.  Breakfast was also delicious.  And the service at the hotel was just over-the-top wonderful -- really amazing.