We’ve visited 4 chateaux so far and they’ve all been very different from each other. Yesterday after we visited the chateau at Chenonceau in the morning, we stopped at the Chateau de Chambord in the afternoon. I probably won’t do a post on it because we were disappointed in it and it would be hard to do a good post on it. It’s by far the biggest one we’ve seen, but the chateau is under renovation with scaffolding everywhere, there’s major construction of other tourism-oriented buildings around it, the grounds are a work in progress, and the castle itself is sparsely and unimaginatively furnished. And besides that, Chuck had to pay .5 Euros (about $.60) to use an outdoor porta-potty! Now how bad is that!
But the good news is that today we visited the Chateau de Cheverny, and it’s the best one we’ve seen yet. Besides the fun of watching the feeding of the hounds (described in another post), this chateau is an overall great place to visit. Let’s begin with a little background on the Chateau at Cheverny:
The chateau at Cheverny was built between 1624 and 1630 by the Henri Hurault family. During the next 150 years, ownership passed through many hands and in 1768 a major interior renovation was undertaken. The Hurault family bought it back in 1825 and in 1914 the owner opened the chateau to the public, one of the first to do so. The Hurault family still operates it, and the current resident, the marquis de Vibrayek, is a direct descendant of Henri Hurault, the chateau’s builder. Chateau Cheverny remains a top tourist attraction to this day, renowned for magnificent interiors and its collection of furniture, tapestries and objets d’art.
This is the back side of the chateau which interestingly looks exactly like the front side except that there’s more landscaping on the back side.
Typical of Louis XIII style, the main staircase is carved stone and straight and with landings rather than a spiral. It shows the Italian influence common in the Loire Valley.
This fireplace was on the end of the arms room, the biggest room in the castle.
Beautiful and unusual doors and doorframes .
This bright and cheerful breakfast room was off the kitchen.
Most of the ceilings looked like this with colorful artwork on the tiny strips of wood.
This was the library/music room. Notice the artist’s painting on the inside of the piano lid. There are over 2,000 books in the library.
Not a great photo because of the poor lighting, but this regulator clock from the Louis XV period is decorated with bronzes and still in working condition. It marks the hours, minutes, and seconds, as well as the day, date and phases of the moon.
I know nothing about this clock except that I think it’s beautiful and I want it. (I like the wallpaper too.)
This tiny chapel on the 4th floor is square and has only one pew. Stained-glass windows were added in the 19th century.
This tiny sewing room could be seen in the private apartments wing of the chateau..
This beautiful nursery has matching wallpaper, drapes and bedspread. In the foreground are the first rocking horses from the time of Napoleon III.
Looking out from the back of the residence, we see The Orangery. This 18th century orangery was used to keep the orange trees under shelter in winter. Today the building is used as a café for chateau visitors.
Inside the Orangery was this cute wall display of macaroons.
Between the castle and the Orangery is the Apprentices’ Garden. This beautiful statue was in the garden and was strangely the only statue seen on the property.
The grounds were beautiful – very green and park-like. This octopus-like tree was huge and amazing.
There was a lake at one side of the property and it was inhabited by black and white swans and a variety of ducks.
There were 2 huge white swans that were beautiful but cranky. One was sitting on a nest while the other one terrorized the smaller black swans.
We also got to take a drive in the woods that are connected to the property. They took us out in little 8-passenger golf carts. At one point a woman spotted something in the woods and screamed and everybody got out and looked and talked about it a lot. Then everybody got back on the golfcart and the driver said in broken English, “Oh that’s right, you don’t speak French so you don’t know what she saw!” And we still don’t.
The golfcart took us down to their canals which were originally irrigation canals. We got on a boat and went through the canals. I’m sure it was very interesting – it was almost entirely in French.
These trees growing in the canals are cypress trees like those we see in Louisiana.
This little door down by the lake was so inviting. I wonder what elves lived here?
After the day was over, it was the gardens that we liked the most. Of course.
These trees with the matching tulips underneath were so pretty.
The chateau plants over 100,000 tulip bulbs every year and they were beautiful.
I loved the octupus tree and all the beautiful tulips, but my favorite is the little sewing room. I am sitting here crying wihile trying to type this because I am thinking of Mom.
Springtime in France 
I loved the octupus tree and all the beautiful tulips, but my favorite is the little sewing room. I am sitting here crying wihile trying to type this because I am thinking of Mom.
Thank you Aunt Joyce.
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