Tag: Pays de la Loire

I think the worsening weather (heavy rain returned last night) has caused my appetite towards visiting yet another village in this immediate area to dissipate somewhat because I didn’t really enjoy the small town of Varennes sur Loire yesterday. In fact, it is about as interesting as Swindon on a bad day. I googled the town to see if I had missed anything but no; ‘France This Way’ says very little about the place and, instead, describes other places to visit in the area – Montsoreau, Candes Saint Martin, Fontevraud, etc. So, we have decided to head further south tomorrow (once we have witnessed the Olympic Flame being run through Montsoreau on it’s way to Paris for the 2024 Olympics). Brighton has been wet for the best part of six months and we don’t need more of the same in France. We want to see and feel the sun.

Varennes sur Loire is a rural town located on the north bank of the Loire. To get there I had to cross the same narrow bridge that I drove over nearly a week ago to reach Montsoreau. I thought it narrow that first time (having to bring both wing mirrors in) but it seemed narrower still walking across it. The bridge is strewn with broken mirrors and pieces of plastic.

I found little in Varennes to interest me and because of the impending rain stayed little more than half an hour. There’s an interesting little nature park for the children but otherwise…

We had intended staying in Montsoreau for 3 or 4 days but changed our minds and stayed a full week after learning that the Olympic Flame would be passing through the village on it’s way to Paris for the 2024 Olympics. The arrival of the Flame is a huge event for such a small village and, anyway, Montsoreau is a fine little village with plenty going on and it’s campsite, Camping Isle Verte, has all the facilities we need and more (especially having regard to Nala’s condition). We didn’t need much persuading to stay on but, what to do until the Olympic Flame arrives?

I mentioned in an earlier post that Montsoreau is well placed for us to visit a host of other villages and towns in the area. Indeed, we have already enjoyed nearby Candes Saint Martin and Turquant and I particularly enjoyed visiting the Abbey at Fontevraud. And so it happened that after Montsoreau’s Sunday Market (more about that later in a fresh post on Montsoreau), I set off, a pied, to explore a couple of other villages to the west of Montsoreau being Parnay and Souzay-Champigny. These two were never going to compare with Montsoreau, Candes Saint Martin, Turquant or Fontevraud L’Abbaye, but they each offer something of interest. Over dinner last night I enjoyed a very pleasant red wine from Parnay (a Chateau de Targe, produced by an independent winemaker, Paul Pisani-Ferry) and the waiter recommended their wines above any other in the area in terms of taste and value for money. Parnay has to be worth a visit. Just beyond Parnay is the larger village of Souzay-Champigny (over 700 inhabitants compared with less than 300 in Parnay) with it’s 12th century troglodyte shopping street – surely the first ever shopping mall?

It didn’t take me long to walk to Parnay (it is less than 3 miles from Montsoreau) but sadly the Chateau de Targe was not open for wine tasting when I arrived. Probably just as well given how much I enjoyed the wine last night. I’ll just have to revisit last night’s bar.

The only other thing I would say about Parnay is that the locals seem very proud of the fact it sits on the Greenwich Meridian…

On to Souzay-Champigny, which adjoins Parnay. I managed a few photographs of the troglodyte street but, I think a better time to visit the place would be in April (when an egg fair is held there) or early June (when a medieval festival takes place) or, better still in December when it holds a Christmas Market. It wasn’t being used at all during my visit and, empty, proved very disappointing. I walked all around the village but, again, it proved a disappointment There was a wedding on at the church (which I was loath to join) and so I lost those photo opportunities but, worse, I read that the most picturesque views of the village are to be taken from the small island in the Loire opposite the Town Hall and because the island was almost completely underwater (the Loire having burst it’s banks) I missed those photo opportunities too. Some other time perhaps – April, June or December, Lol.

We spent the morning of this our 6th day of Tour 9 in Candes Saint Martin. We had promised to return to Candes to visit the Street Art Parc which is located in the grounds of Chateau Candes. We’re so glad we returned for that visit; it was one and a half hours of pure joy. I have described the visit in a post script to the earlier Candes Saint Martin blog. For now, I will concentrate on the afternoon’s excursion to the little village of Fontevraud L’Abbaye.

Fontevraud is almost exactly 3 miles south of Montsoreau and the walk took about an hour and a quarter. Vanya chose to stay in Montsoreau with the dogs, both of which were totally exhausted after the morning’s visit to Candes. Vanya might have been a little tired too but she is recovering from her hip operation.

Although it has a population of a little over 1,500, there’s not a great deal to the village. Almost everything in Fontevraud is about the Historic Monument and UNESCO World Heritage Site of the ‘Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud’ and so, after a very quick scout of the village which saw me find a suitable cafe-bar for a wine stop before my return to Montsoreau, I headed for the Abbey.

Most conveniently, the principal entrance to the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud is on the Place des Plantagenets. I paid my entrance fee (14 Euros for access into both the abbey and the museum) and began my tour. For a small fee you can join a guided tour but it really isn’t necessary if you speak French or English. You get a free guidebook (pamphlet) with your admission ticket which when read in conjunction with small plaques dotted about the Abbey explains all you need to know.

The Abbey was founded in 1101 by Robert d’Arbrissel to accommodate monks and nuns and it flourished, particularly after Eleanor of Aquitaine retired to the Abbey in 1200 and made it a necropolis for the Kings and Queens of England. Upon her death in 1204 she was entombed in the abbey church of Fontevraud together with her husband King Henry II, her third son King Richard I (aka Richard the Lionheart) and Isabella Angouleme wife of her youngest son King John of England.

Robert d’Arbrissel is also entombed in the abbey church despite his wish to be buried in a more simple plot in the grounds of the abbey. Over the course of his life Robert proved to be a bit of a religious radical and this continued right to the end when on his deathbed he decreed that a woman, Hersende of Champagne, should succeed him as head of Fontevraud over all nuns and monks. Since then 36 abbesses have succeeded one another, the last being Julie Sophie Charlotte de Pardaillan d’Antin who was evicted during the French Revolution in 1792 and subsequently died in poverty in Paris.

The abbey was looted and ransacked during the French Revolution and suffered further depradation in 1804 when Napoleon Bonaparte instructed that it be used as a prison. Housing up to 2,000 inmates at a time until it’s closure in 1963, Fontevraud was considered one of the toughest prisons in France. After the prison closed work began to restore the Abbey and the following photos reflect some considerable progress:-

The Grand-Moutier Cloister…

The Chapter Room…

Saint Benoit Courtyard…

The Romanesque Kitchens…

View of Fontevraud Abbey from Robert d’Arbrissel Hill (& the abbey bells)…

There’s no doubt, the abbey is a beautiful and interesting place (and I’m glad I visited) but in one respect it proved a disappointment. It struck me as a barren collection of pretty buildings with no ‘feeling’, if that is the right word. This may in part be due to all original furnishings, fixtures and fittings having been removed; those little items which would give the place a more human connection. I think this needs to be addressed given (a) the abbey’s history as a place monastic life and worship and; (b) it’s royal patronage (not just by the Plantagenents either) and; (c) the hardship and suffering that occured within during the period it was a notorious prison and; (d) more recently when, during World War II, it was used by the Nazi occupiers as a place of internment and execution of the French Resistance Movement. Give the place some soul.

And moving on… there was just enough time for a quick artisanal beer in the abbey’s old vegetable garden before I made my way to the museum (that was a total disappointment) and then on to my planned winestop at La Croix Blanche. I still had the three mile walk back to Montsoreau to navigate.

The Chinon wine was very nice. Full bodied and very smooth. I’ll be taking some of that back to England.

This small village of fewer than 600 inhabitants, just a mile or two west of Montsoreau, is packed with caves and troglodyte houses, most of which are currently used by various artisans and/or craftworkers as workshops and galleries.

We didn’t stay long (we were going to the Leclerc Hypermarket in Saumur) but, not having seen a bakery, a chemist and a tabac-bar (establishments which are common to almost every village in France) I’m wondering if we missed a part of the village? What we did see was fascinating and it would be a great shame if we did miss out on something but the place is a bit of a warren.

POSTSCRIPT: Back at the Van I scoured a local map and, in hindsight, I don’t think we missed much at all. One interesting point arising out of my search, however, is that the ancient town of Loudun is less than 20 miles from Turquant. In 1634 Loudon was the site of a notorious witchcraft trial after a convent of Ursuline nuns claimed to have been possessed by demons. The full story is told in Aldous Huxley’s book ‘The Devils of Loudun’ which in 1972 was made into a Ken Russell film starring Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed (in the principal roles of, respectively, Sister Jeanne des Anges and Father Urbain Grandier). I recall seeing the film in London when it first came out (and before it was banned).

Back to Turquant. Almost everything in Turquant is made of tuffeau stone (tufa stone in English) which is soft and grey when mined but hardens and turns white when exposed to sunlight. It was dug out of local cliffs during the late Middle Ages to build churches, castles, mansions and houses all along the Loire Valley. The resulting caves, some little more than holes in the cliffs, were subsequently sought out by the destitute and used as homes. Some of these cave homes continued to be occupied until the 1930’s. Now they are mostly used by local artisans as workshops and galleries although; I did see one that has been turned into a restaurant and there are signs that an increasing number are being converted into Airbnbs.

Enough about tuffeau stone except to say that there are a couple of short well marked walking routes starting start down by the church car parks which will lead the visitor past many of the caves and around Turquant. Follow these and you will see most everything the village has to offer (except a bakery, chemist or tabac-bar).

One final word on local food before I get back to exploring this area. Pommes Tapees are produced and sold in the village. When wine production was ruined by the phylloxera epidemic in the late 19th century, some of the local wineries looked to apples as an alternative business option. To make Pommes Tapees, the apples are dried for no less than 5 days in ovens built into the local caves. During this time they are turned daily and tapped with a small hammer so as to flatten them. They are then bottled and should keep at least 10 years.

Fresnay sur Sarthe is a charming little town of some 3,000 inhabitants which straddles the River Sarthe in an area known as the Mancelles Alpes (which, despite the grandiose name, are little more than a series of pretty green grassy valleys). We were heading north to Alencon and, just after Le Mans, we decided to stop for a spot of lunch and to stretch our legs. Fresnay sur Sarthe looked like the perfect spot.

Having parked the Van, we ambled across the bridge over the River Sarthe and up to the medieval centre of the town. It sits on a rocky outcrop above the river alongside the ruins of a small 14th century castle.

The Fresnay sur Sarthe town bridge with what remains of the old castle walls.

There is little left of the old castle but it’s grounds have been transformed into a very pretty public garden which offers pleasant views over the lower part of the town.

Since at least the time of William the Conqueror the castle has been the scene of many battles and, certainly, the castle (and the town) changed hands between the English and the French numerous times during both the 100 Years War and the 30 Years War but, it was during France’s Religious Wars in 1562, that it was almost totally destroyed by the Huegenots.

The River Sarthe from the castle walls.

A small square adjacent to the castle, the Place de Bassum with it’s traditional stone market hall and an unusual fountain featuring a lion and an ash tree with three crowns, is the accepted centre of the town. We ate a light brunch outside one of the cafe bars in the centre and then simply soaked up the sun for a while over a couple of glasses of coffee.

Left: The approach to the medieval centre of Fresnay from the lower town. Centre: Place de Bassum with it’s unusual fountain. Right: A closer view of the fountain.

The castle entrance and the view down towards the bridge from the castle walls.

Whilst wandering Place de Bessum, we couldn’t help but notice various motor racing paraphernalia, particularly black and white chequered flags, displayed in almost every shop window. Moreover, there was an open air art exhibition in the castle grounds which again featured motor racing – some rather good paintings. And then, most impressive of all, nearly all of the streets fanning out from Place de Bessum were bedecked with literally hundreds of black and white umbrellas. Curioser and curioser! With a little help from Google we discovered that the town was one of many in the immediate area which, on 10 and 11 June, would be celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Le Mans 24 Hour Sports Car Endurance Race – Just two weeks hence. Now that would be something to witness but… we have a wedding to attend in the UK.

Almost every street surrounding Place de Bessum looked like these (and it was nothing to do with Newcastle United qualifying for the European Champions League for the first time in their history).

It was almost time to get back on the road. We’d missed the weekly farmers market up on the square near the Church of Notre Dame but there was still time to wander that remaining part of the town. I’ll leave you with just a few more photos…

Two rather poor photos of the 12th century Notre Dame (the narrow lanes and alleys precluded any decent photos) and a photo of a very nervous Beanie who has never before seen such a large amount of strange smelling ice. This ice was dumped by the fishmonger at the farmers weekly market.

… and back down to the lower town and the River Sarthe.

We’d have liked to stay on. The town appeared full of character and there were at least two nice looking restaurants. A half decent looking municipal campsite too.

obiter dicta: I’ve mentioned already that I am well behind with this blog. It is now 11 July and we visited Fresnay sur Sarthe on 27 May. Sorry about that but there is so much going on at the moment back in the UK. I will soon catch up but, meanwhile, in case you are interested, Ferrari won the 2023 Le Mans race for the first time since 1964 and with a British driver at the wheel – James Calado. The favourites, Toyota, were a close second.

Saumur is an ancient town of some 27,000 people on the Loire River in Western France in the area historically known as Anjou. It’s a pretty town, overlooked by the very prominent Chateau de Saumur, and built almost entirely of an attractive cream coloured stone (Tuffeau) which was mined here throughout the Middle Ages. The miles of caves resulting from that mining have since been converted for wine storage (the renowned Saumur wines and especially Cremant de Loire) and mushrooms (80% of France’s button mushrooms are grown in these caves).

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We arrived fairly late in the day and, after parking up at the Flower Camp Site which sits on the L’Ile d’Offard in the middle of the Loire River, walked across the Pont Cessart for a quick look at the old town and something to eat. We found somewhere on the Place de Saint Pierre and spent a delightful evening eating French tapas and drinking Cremant de Loire.

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The next day was about exploring the town and my first destination was the Chateau de Saumur fortress which dominates so much of the town. It was first built in the 9th century to deter Norman invaders and considerably developed over the next hundreds of years (particularly by the English King, Henry II) but it’s current fairytale shape and style is 15th century and down to Louis I and Louis II of Anjou who wanted rather more of a palace than a fortress. Up close the chateau is not as impressive as when seen from a distance with many of the walls crumbling and in need of repair. The good news is that it is happening. The place was crawling with stonemasons hard at work. I arrived too early in the morning to go into the chateau which is now a museum.

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A significant military presence is evident across Saumur. France lost almost all of it’s cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars and a decision was made to rebuild that arm of the military in and around Saumur with the establishment of the Ecole Nationale d’Equitation. The Cavalry Academy is now home to the Cadre Noir, an elite corps of black clad cavalry instructors who have made up the teaching staff at the school since 1828. During the Summer months the Cadre Noir put on a series of ballet like galas to showcase the skills of horses and riders and the riders have often taken gold in eventing, dressage and jumping at the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, Covid put has paid to any such gala this Summer.

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With cavalry having long given way to tanks it is perhaps not surprising that Saumur is also home to the Musee des Blindes which is one of the largest tank museums in the world with 800+ armoured vehicles (200 of which are driven in a military tattoo every July). I suspect that too will be cancelled this year.

With Saumur being home to Cremant de Loire (currently Vanya’s favourite tipple) it was inevitable that Vanya and I would want to go on a local wine tour and tasting session. We were spoilt for choice here with so many producers based alongside of each other on the Rue d’Ackerman. We finally settled on the Langlois Chateau and we were not disappointed. Between us we have previously partaken of many wine tours and tasting sessions but none as enjoyable and as informative as the one at the Langlois Chateau. It was a private tour, just the two of us, and; it involved going back into a classroom to learn more about grapes, bloom & sediment and; our walking some of the their 3 kilometres of caves and; well, it was simply brilliant. We learned so much of real interest. And the wine? Vanya now has a new favourite Cremant and we have a case of it in the back of the Van.

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I walked more than 15 miles of the town that first day (getting a little lost more than once) and there is so much more I could write about but we need to move on to our next destination so I will quickly write about our last night in Saumur and leave it at that.

We had the good fortune to be in Saumur during the evening that France were playing Switzerland in the first knockout stage of the European Championship Finals. That being so we found a small bar, La Verriere, showing the match out on the main square in the centre of town and ordered an early meal so as to gain the best seats. We had a fantastic evening. France lost but there were sufficient goals (3-3 after extra time and then the match went to penalties) to keep the neutral supporters well entertained and the atmosphere was electric. Oh and the food and wine was great.

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Today was about making up some lost ground caused by Vanya wanting to get as close to our daughter in Portsmouth as possible without our actually leaving France (see previous blog) and so; we headed back down the Cherbourg Peninsula through St Mere Eglise and Carentan (both scenes of bloody fighting during WWII and of absolutely no interest to Vanya) to first Chahaignes in the Pays de la Loire region of north-west France and second Ternay in the Vienne.

Our reason for travelling to Chahaignes was to take advantage of something we joined before leaving the UK – France Passion. This is a service scheme whereby some 2,000+ farmers, winegrowers and craftsmen/women across France have agreed to provide free 24 hour stopovers on their properties to motor-homers. It is wonderful. For the 30 Euros a year it costs to join France Passion, the motor-homer gets a free spot to park for the night (sometimes well off the beaten track) with an opportunity to meet the locals and try their produce. There’s no obligation to buy but why not use some of the money that might otherwise have spent on camp site fees on really fresh produce that you like?

Perhaps not surprisingly, the place we chose to visit first was a winery and so it was that we arrived at the “Domaine de la Raderie” in Chahaignes…

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Although the parking was fine, we elected not to stay the night at the Domaine de la Raderie (too many wasps) but it was not a wasted journey. We left with 6 bottles of a rather nice Chenin Blanc, 3 bottles of Bulles de Raderie (not bad at at all) and a 5 litre box of something else that Vanya liked.

An hour or so later and just before it got dark we arrived in the small town of Ternay and parked up for the night in a free Aire which had seen much better days. No matter, we were the only ones there and it was peaceful. Moreover, we were well poised to try more wine tasting down in the Centre-Val de Loire. Montrichard here we come.