Have you ever seen the show Reign? My wife adored this showed and binged watched it for weeks when it came out on Netflix. She loves the drama! Thus, she really fell in love with the Château de Chenonceau, also known as The Ladies’ Chateau.

This is one of the most famous château in the Loire Valley because of the feud between Katherine and Diane. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Originally, the land housed a chateau owned by Jean Marques, but it was burned to the ground in 1412 as a punishment for acts of sedition. However, Jean Marques would not be discouraged and rebuilt his chateau and mill in 1430. In 1513, Thomas Bohier and his wife Katherine Briçonnet purchased the property and demolished the fortified castle and mill but left the keep standing. It took Bohier 8 years to complete Château de Chenonceau (1521) spanning the river Cher. 

In 1535, King Fancis I of France seized the château for unpaid debts to the Crown. Now here’s where it gets good. After King Francis I died, his son, Henry II, gave the château to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. She commissioned a bridge be built to join the château with the opposite bank which was built between 1556-1559 designed by Philibert de l’Omre. Diane also oversaw the planting of flower and vegetable gardens.

Now we all know that television shows may not always be accurate in their depiction of the times. However, it is rumored that Queen Catherine de’Medici was not happy with Diane de Poitiers’ position as mistress. Supposedly, Queen Catherine had a portrait of herself hanging over the fireplace in the mistress’ chamber and had designs of the letters H and C placed all over the mantle of the fireplace to remind Diane of her station.

After King Henry II died in 1559, Queen Catherine was not going to allow Diane any peace. She force Diane to exchange the favored Château de Chenonceau for the Château Chaumont. Queen Catherine then took up residence in Château de Chenonceau adding even more luxuriant gardens. Queen Catherine used the château to hold extravagant parties including the first ever fireworks demonstration in France in 1560 when her son Francis II ascended to the throne.

Upon Catherine’s death, in 1589, her daughter Louise of Lorraine took ownership of the château. Eight months after her acquisition of the property, Louise learned that her husband, King Henry III, was assassinated. Louise remained on the property in mourning for next 11 years. It was said that she was terribly depressed and wandered aimlessly through the château’s corridors always dressed in mourning clothes, ensuring that black tapestries stitched with skulls and crossbones lined the walls. You can still see her desperation in the decor of her bedroom.

While this château boasts one heck of a back story, thus attracting my wife’s attention, the actual construction of the château is quite magnificent. I took the time to capture its beauty over the river, even earned a stern whistling from the guards for standing on the rock wall to take my photos. NOTE, do not sit or stand on the rock wall lining the gardens. 

The gardens are displayed with BOTH Diane’s and Catherine’s influence. The château may not be the largest, but its beauty is undeniable.

Ceiling to chapen of Chateau de Chenonceau

Diane de Poitiers Room

The Gallery stands over Cher River.

Laila portrait in the Gallery

The gardens of Chateau de Chenonceau

Pond reflection Katherine’s Garden

Chateau de Chenonceau reflection on River Cher

Chateau de Chenonceau entrance landing

Entrance road to Chateau de Chenonceau

When we looked at pictures of this château online, we were in awe of the gardens. My oldest daughter was reading Alice in Wonderland at the the time and said she could envision the Queen’s gardens looking just like this.

The Château de Villandry is the last castle erected during the Renaissance in the Loire Valley. During the Renaissance, François Ier wanted to compete with Italy in terms of cultural policy, so he commissioned the building of numerous castles. While the land originally housed a fortress, in 1532 Jean Le Breton had everything destroyed but the keep. It took him 4 years to bring the castle to fruition. The château remained within the Le Breton family for nearly two centuries until it was passed onto Marquis de Castellane. It was confiscated in the French Revolution. In the 19th century, Emperor Napoleon gifted the château to his brother Jérôme Bonaparte. While the château itself is truly magnificent, it is the gardens that draw the greatest attention. The land help simple well maintained gardens, but the extravagance we see today didn’t come until 1906 when Joachim Carvallo purchased the castle with his wife Ann Coleman that the garden were added. He wanted a lavish, picturesque Renaissance garden.

Today, there are 6 gardens covering 9 hectares including a water garden, ornamental flower gardens, and vegetable gardens. The gardens are spread over three levels with terraces featuring the different types of gardens forming geometry shapes.

One of my wife’s favorite gardens it the “gardens of love”. There are four distinct areas in this garden with different symbolic meanings: “Tender Love” are heart shapes hedges separate by the flames of love; “Passionate Love” is demonstrated in broken hearts separated by a labyrinth of boxwoods beds; “Fickle Love” has four fans in angles; and “Tragic Love”  in the shape of dagger blades and swords. Or course, if you visit, there is a lovely brochure that goes in to great detail about the symbolism behind the gardens.

My oldest daughter and wife actually skipped through the gardens singing “We’re painting the roses red, we’re painting the roses red”. It was quite peaceful walking the landscape. Tall trees and hedges separate the gardens so that you can really feel like you’re standing in a different world with each garden.

Don’t worry about walking the entire way, there are several benches to sit and rest. There are even a few woven pavilions to sit under, each with it own flower display.

This World Heritage Site is definitely worth a visit just to visit the gardens.

Front entrance Château de Villandry

Panorama of Château de Villandry

Just amazing detail in the formation of the garden

Panorama above Château de Villandry

Painting the roses red!

Enjoying our day trip.

In March 2021, I moved to France for work. When I arrived in France, covid restrictions prevented my ability to get out and see anything. Once May 2021 rolled around, my family luckily were approved French long stay visas! It wasn’t too long after their arrival, France decided it was time to roll back the restrictions! What a relief! So what is our first adventure going to be?

We decided our first adventure out in France would be Château de Chambord. 

In 1519, King François I seized 6200 acres of farmlands creating the Château de Chambord grounds, but in 1645 the duke of Orléans expanded the castle grounds and completed the 32km wall fencing in the property. And thus, Château de Chambord became the largest château in the Loire valley spanning 13500 acres with a perimeter wall running around the castle grounds.

Château de Chambord was not complete until under King Louis XIV. The architecture of this château is absolutely breathtaking and is a world treasure representing the French Renaissance through its design. At the heart of Château de Chambord is the Leonardo Di Vinci inspired double helix staircase.

Château de Chambord offers plenty to see during a visit or even a holiday stay on the château lands. Relais de Chambord is a hotel that offers you the ability to stay on grounds for a vacation in a two person only room if you desire to enjoy more of this UNIESCO world site. If you want to admire the art, decor, and architecture of Château de Chambord, you have the ability with a self guided tour. My wife, Beth, loved walking around with the self guided tour equipment to learn of the history of everything displayed at this site. It even boasts a scavenger hunt to find medallions placed in various rooms of the château!

If you are a lover of nature and animal photography, the château grounds offer you an oasis to see different animals such as stags, boar, horses, and a diverse bird population of 150 species. If you travel to France and enjoy partaking in sampling of wines, Château de Chambord offers wine made from the vineyards on site.  If you are plantsman and enjoy a leisurely stroll through gardens, you have that option as well!

We attended a live performance show that told the story of Château de Chambord. The narration and the dialogue from the actors/actresses is spoken in their native French creating some confusion for my family. Our French is not on that level yet! We still found it rather entertaining as the scenes were well coordinated with horse riding, stunts, and tricks, trained hawks, and the animation from the actors/actresses acting out the scenes in the performance. It is something definitely not to miss if you visit Château de Chambord. Though you may not speak French like us, the show had us laughing, sitting on the edge of our seats, and our hearts pounding for fear of the talented riders performing acrobatics.

Seeing is believe I guess, but after visiting the impressive Château de Chambord just for an afternoon excursion I can understand why this is a world known château! You have options if you decide to come visit Château de Chambord. If you want to stay on the grounds, I looked up the price of Relais de Chambord and it will set you back over $200/night. If you want to stay close but don’t mind a 20 minute drive, you can stay in a hotel or AirBnB in Blois. The ticket price to enter Château de Chambord is roughly $16 per ticket. 

I believe Château de Chambord meets the expectations of an ideal fairy tale castle.  I highly recommend a stop at this UNESCO world site. Would you visit Château de Chambord if you visited France? 

Moat side Château de Chambord

Inside courtyard Château de Chambord

The heart of the Château de Chambord, double helix staircase

Looking up double helix staircase

Access point to roof

Art displayed inside château

Château de Chambord

Château de Chambord

Art displayed inside château

Selfie on top Château de Chambord

Chapel

Château de Chambord