Gardens in the Loire Valley

One of the big attractions to visiting the Loire region are the many gardens. I already wrote about Villandry recently which is fairly well known as far as gardens go in the Loire. But, our guy Sebastien was doing some 'recon' for our cycling and hiking tours last weekend and he sent some photos of another garden stop that is much less known; the Chateau de la Chatonniere. http://www.lachatonniere.com/en/jardins/ We had several large cycling groups travel on the 'Garden Theme' this year and they all loved this little stop. As noted on their website, this is a closely guarded secret!

"The Castle of La Chatonnière is built on the site of a troglodytic village with stables and an underground church. La Chatonnière was originally a stronghold on the old Roman road, the one which in the Middle Ages, Joan of Arc was to take. The four towers at each corner of the castle are strong reminders of the Hundred Years War and the wars of religion. Later the manor became a country house with land stretching between Azay-le-Rideau and the river Loire. During the 19th century La Chatonnière had many owners and the estate flourished while the land fell into disuse. The gardens shrank and the vale became overgrown with trees and undergrowth. In 1955 a family discovered this secret jem and set about restoring the gardens and bringing them back to their former glory."

Please see the website link above for more of this fascinating site! Our 2010 tours are in some cases being slightly reworked so we can include this stop on more of the itineraries.