Self-catering properties
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La Ferme
- Style
- Gentrified gîte
- Setting
- Touraine château seat
Indre-et-Loire Overview
France
- Countryside
- France’s genteel jardin
- Country life
- Fine wines and fairy tales
Indre-et-Loire: a verdant sprawl of sunflower fields, green landscapes and two glittering rivers, beloved of France’s mediaeval kings, and studded with the turreted, towering châteaux they left behind.
Could Indre-et-Loire be heaven on earth? The mediaeval monarchs certainly thought so, treating the départment’s rich countryside as their pastoral playground. It’s an environment where things flourish naturally, from the meek – vegetables, flora and fauna – to the ostentatious: architecture and religious art (countless pilgrims trekked here for the church at Candes-Saint-Martin). Sun-kissed vineyards have earned the region respect as a stellar wine producer, and the local restaurants turn out memorable meals: plump, grilled sardines, andouille sausage, coarse rillettes, and similar seducers. Having unwrapped some of the area’s obvious charms, we’ll hint at some of its secrets: mysterious caves, artistic fans, and see-to-believe tapestries…
Irresistibly Indre-et-Loire
St Martin, one of France’s martyrs, founded the country’s second monastery at Marmoutier and became Tours’ bishop in 371. After he died at Candes-Saint-Martin during a religious scuffle, the people of Tours and Poitiers got into a tussle over who should have his corpse. The sneaky Tourangeaux hustled his body out of the church under the cloak of darkness, and boated it up the river Loire. As the grisly load floated by, the trees lining the Loire burst into flower (this, in the depths of November). Ever since, the area has been a magnet for pilgrims.Local Knowledge
- Taxis
- Cabs are rare: ask your hosts to book transfers for you.
- Tipping culture
- Service charge is usually included – if not, add on some extra euro, where it’s deserved.
- Siesta and fiesta
- Leave city schedules behind: expect to eat and shop relatively early.
- Packing tips
- Binoculars and a book of birds, to admire the creatures that nest near the lakes; bubble wrap for gemmail – the area’s distinctive stained glass, made from overlapping fragments, glued together.
- Recommended reads
- Joan of Arc hailed from the Loire Valley – brush up on your knowledge by dipping into Kathleen Kadinski’s colourful, fact-packed biography, Joan of Arc. Honoré de Balzac wrote many of his finest works in the château of Saché: dip into a translation of La Comédie Humaine. Ussé reckons it’s the castle in Sleeping Beauty, so bring a copy of Charles Perrault’s 17th-century fairy tale.
- Cuisine
- The region’s game has been keeping kings well-fed for centuries – try the venison or boar (autumn is game season, and mushroom time, too). Pork comes in both rillettes and rillon (big hunks cooked in pork fat) form, and the grain-fed chicken and pintade (guinea fowl) are succulently soft.
- Regional specialities
- Citrussy Sainte-Maure goat’s cheese, served log-shaped, with a straw through the middle, tastes heavenly – one can only assume that the local goats are happy creatures. Fish-eaters should sample sandre (sander), which has a meaty white flesh, served with butter or citrus dressing. Eels and lamprey come with a wine-laced sauce. In terms of five dailies, the best time for asparagus is spring; onions, beans, cabbages, chicory, artichokes, tomatoes and garlic can be enjoyed pretty much all-year round.
- Currency
- €.
- Time zone
- GMT+1.
- Dialling codes
- France: 33. Indre-et-Loire: 02.
- Do go/don't go
- May–September is the best time for being outdoors: cycling, walking and so on. The soundtrack to September stays is the mating song of stags – has to be heard to be believed. Autumn marks the beginning of hunting season; fishing at the lakes has distinct charm in winter.
Don't go home without...
visiting the gardens of the Château de Villandry, admiring the allegorical hedges, shaped into hearts and romantic motifs.
