Loire Valley

I was lucky enough to have a work 'away day' in Paris last week. That involved us travelling there on Thursday morning on the train and staying the night. If we wanted to, we were able to stay on for the weekend, rather than heading back to London on the Friday evening.

Rob came and joined me on the Thursday evening and we arranged to go to the Loire Valley on Friday afternoon and stay there for the weekend. We chose to stay in a town called Blois, which is close to Tours. Blois is quite close to many of the famous Loire Valley Chateaux.

The train trip there was quite good - about an hour and a half from Paris. We had a quiet night on Friday night (nothing to do with nursing hangovers from Thursday night!!) and arranged to see one of the chateaux on Saturday.

Unfortunately we only really had time to see one chateaux, and so we chose to go to Chenonceau, which I have seen many times in guide books and always looks like a fairytale castle! It spans the 'Cher' river and has really beautiful gardens. As you will see from the photos, we had the most superb weather (especially considering it is early February!).

Some friends we made along the canal leading up to the chateaux - otters

Chateau Chenonceau

Chateau Chenonceau - across the river 'Cher'

Chateau Chenonceau

The great hall - spans the river and covers and entire floor of the chateau

Guard tower

Gardens - they are perfectly symmetrical

16th century farmhouse in the grounds of the chateau

We weren't the only ones enjoying the perfect weather!

Cathedral in Blois