day 5 Loire Valley

Wednesday 9th Sept

We are met at the gates of le Chateau Chatonniere by a charming gentleman who introduces himself as the Duc de Salinas. He is staying with the Comtesse while he recovers from his grief at the death of his father: he came for one week initially and three months later is still here immersed in the history of the property and leading groups of lucky people around.

The Comtesse has lured Villandry's head gardener away and with him has built a wonderful garden consisting of eleven gardens - each with a fancy name that the French love to use. There's the Garden of Luxuriance planted with 4000 David Austen roses (sadly now past their best), the Garden of Fragrance and the Leaf Garden which is my favourite.

From a high point you can see that it is shaped like a leaf with paths for the veins and the beds of vegetables contained within box hedges. Monsieur Le Duc leads us through the tunnels of twisted willow, around the back of the chateau and through the woods carpeted with cyclamen

then back to the courtyard where morning tea has been set up with the head gardener helping to serve.

In an internal courtyard three large Alsatian dogs are baying at intervals and a cat pays us a visit, but le Duc remains affable: “Call me Rodrigo” he says and tells another historical story in great detail.

Le Duc is very interested in Australia's Prince Leonard of Hutt and wants more details from David and John. We wonder if he is planning to secede from Spain.

Morning tea under the trees is delicious. (There's lots of eating in this tour.)

Lunch is at Chinon, a pretty tourist-oriented village, BUT we are there during 'Midi' - the sacred two hours between midday and 2 o'clock when all the shops except restaurants close for lunch and siesta, even the boulangerie (baker) closes at 12.30.

I chose badly for lunch: what looked like a cute little out-of-the-way cafe turned out to be a bad hole-in-the-wall with salads off the menu. As we've noticed before in France, restaurants don't serve green vegetables unless you twist their arm and everyone on the tour is dying for greens. People talk longingly about broccoli.

Here is a lone local wending his way home for lunch with his baguette.
And pussy was locked out for Midi:"Let me in!" she cries (in French, but I understand cat.)

The garden this afternoon is at the exquisite fairytale Chateau de Rivau. Eat your heart out Disney World, this is the real thing, and Rapunzel's Garden around the chateau even features her long plait hanging from the tower turret window. The enthusiastic owner - no - passionate owner is there to personally escort us around her domain,

fetchingly attired in green with a green watering can shoulder bag and a loud-speaker device which is excrutiatingly bad. I can't stand it (or her) and prefer to explore by myself. It is gorgeous - wonderful plantings, highly imaginative and on a huge (expensive) scale but too twee for

many of us with its emphasis on fairies and gnomes. Some bits work: I really like the big red legs in the woods. Once again there are marvellous vegetables on a huge scale, the 'Garden Gargantua' which is where the legs come in I suppose.

Parts of the castle are open to the public and in the dining room David made acquaintance with a peacock. Madame's afternoon tea was on the stingy side, consisting of a cup of hottish water with a teabag on the side but maybe that's just as well, as dinner at our hotel was substantial.

Now we're packing up and heading off to the River Yonne for 4 nights on canal boats. A few people have elected to stay in a hotel rather than brave the close quarters of a canal boat which means that our 10 berth boat only had 2 couples, us and Bette and John.

There are 6 couples in the group (known as 'The Couples' as if we are a different breed) and 17 women, most of whom know each other from previous trips with Merryle. Already we are showing our colours - those who hang on every word of the guides and those who prefer to skive off on their own. I am glad to report that we are in the middle of the field, not amongst those who complain about everything - yes, there is one of those...