ANJOU 2019
Extra day
Sunday June 16
Chateau de VALMER
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https://www.chateaudevalmer.com/en/
The chateau and grounds were built by the advisor to Francois I, Sieur Binet and later owned by Charles VII. Tragically the chateau was lost to a fire in 1948, with yews now marking the limits of where it once stood. The buildings you see today, the portal, the outbuildings and the Petit Valmer are the work of Sieur Thomas Bonneau, advisor to Louis XIII. A remarkable site of 300 hectares overlooking the Brenne valley that includes a walled park, Renaissance inspired terraces and Italian style gardens, a rare troglodyte chapel from the 16thC. (classified as a Historic Monument) and woods of bicentenary trees.
The owner, Countess Alix de St. Venant, is a renowned garden architect while her son Jean is the 5th generation (since 1888) of the de Saint Venant family to work the Valmer vineyards that surround the terraced gardens. The clay-limestone soil produce sparkling, dry, semi-dry and sweet white wines including Vouvray from the Chenin grape. The wine is fermented in glass concrete vats, then bottled and laid to rest in the beautifully preserved 500m long tufa cellars dug in the 16th century under the High Terrace.
Our visit will include a buffet lunch in the Trianon pavilion accompanied by their own Vouvray sec 2016, Touraine rosé 2017 and Vouvray Méthode Traditionnelle followed by a visit of the gardens, chapel and Tufa wine cellars.
The property is labelled as ‘jardin remarquable’, ‘monument historique’ and ‘vigneron independant’
© Gary Rogers
© Leonard de Serres
Chateau de CHAMBORD
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A prestige visit followed by dinner in the Hunting Hall with managing director Jean d’Haussonville.
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The year 2019 marks the half-millennium of the outset of construction, in 1519, of Francois I’s most eminent Renaissance castle in the world welcoming over 1 million visitors in 2017 and projecting to welcome 2 million visitors a year. How to reinterpret this enigmatic monument for the 21st century?
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New projects have been launched to present to the visitor a radically transformed and magnified Chambord. To read it as it was thought out by its founder, Francois I, and its inspiring architect Leonardo da Vinci, to show the original construction material as well as the symbols of the immaterial.
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A major exhibition “1519-2019 : Utopia at Work” delves into the architecture of the chateau and the involvement of da Vinci. A permaculture vegetable garden will be introduced where once the stables stood providing also training seminars and hosting young visitors. 14 hectares of organic vines were planted in 2015 using the grape varieties of yesteryear (Francois I’s Romorantin) - the first bottles will be on sale this year. The maintenance of the 32 km-long stone wall will train 40 people annually providing social value. A colloquium sponsored by UNESCO to consider how to conserve its endangered heritage. These list but just some of the new projects envisaged for the half-millenium celebrations.
« Contrary to the hand-me-down idea of a hunting lodge, Chambord was initially conceived and designed as an ideal city, consisting in not just the monument, but the estate in its entirety. At heart, the project we are conducting today epitomizes the idea of utopia at work.»
Jean d’Haussonville, managing director
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Dinner: Hunting Hall, Chambord.
Embellished with red stag trophies, stuffed animals, and paintings depicting hunting scenes, the hall epitomizes the venerable tradition of hunting in Chambord. With its embroidered green and gold tapestries, a heritage of French President Pompidou, the room is suffused with a subdued and pleasant atmosphere.
Dinner will be catered by the local and innovative Eldorado, with chef Laurent Camus.
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Hotel Relais de Chambord
Newly restored with full respect for the exceptional location at the heart of the domain of Chambord. The charm of a large country house with the comfort of a contemporary hotel lying within a stone’s throw from the chateau.
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09.30am Monday June 17
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For those not continuing with the Post tour, please check with Jehanne de Dorlodot nearer the time for departure of buses.
