Small group tour Chateaux and gardens of the Loire Valley Loire Valley France

Your small group tour by train to the chateaux and gardens of the Loire Valley starts with an early morning Eurostar from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord. A private small group transfer takes you from the Gare to Nord in Paris to the Gare de Montparnasse. You leave London just after 08.00 hrs which means you’ll reach St Pierre des Corps at Tours in the heart of the Loire Valley just after 15.00 hrs. You are not accompanied by a guide or escort on these journeys. From the station in Tours you are met by a private small group transfer for the short journey to your first base in the area, just south of Tours. You have three nights here. There is time to check-in and acclimatise before your included welcome aperitif followed by a 3-course dinner at the hotel.

Today you will be visiting three of the most renowned chateaux of the Loire Valley. This morning enjoy your breakfast before you meet your private guide and driver at 09.00 hrs. Your first visit will be at the Chateau de Villandry, where your guide will introduce you to the history of the building and its awe-inspiring gardens. The Chateau de Villandry dates from 1532 and was built by Jean Breton who was Secretary of the King’s Finances. Villandry was the last of the great Loire chateaux to be built during the Renaissance. Gardens were a key component to a Renaissance chateau and since the building of Villandry, there have been outstanding gardens, enlarged and enriched in the 18th century with a contemporary formal garden, which was restored in the early 20th century. Since 2009 the gardens have been organic. After time for lunch (not included), your second visit today is of the Chateau de Chenonceau, a remarkable construction that straddles the River Cher. It dates from the Middle Ages, but its history is defined by an almost uninterrupted succession of women who embellished, protected and restored it. In its current form, the chateau was built between 1513 and 1517. In the mid-16th century Henri II granted the chateau to Diane de Poitiers. The gardens at Chenonceau, which form a ‘floating parterre’ were created in Renaissance times and restored by Achille Duchene in the late 19th century. The parterre is renowned for its yew, box and laurustinus. Climbing Iceberg roses adorn the terrace walls. 

You return to your hotel at about 19.00 hrs in time for dinner which is included at the hotel this evening. 

We have included a transfer into Tours this morning for those who want to visit. There will be free time to explore on your own and stop for lunch, with the transfer collecting you at 3pm to return to the hotel. Tours is a cathedral city and the regional capital; it has a well-preserved medieval old town with small, cobbled streets and a flamboyant Gothic cathedral dating from the 12th century. If you prefer, stay at the hotel and make the most of the ground and leisure facilities. The Domaine de la Tortiniere dates from the 16th century and was re-built in the mid-19th century in its present form, inspired by nearby Azay-le-Rideau. You have time today to explore the hotel and its amenities. The Domaine de la Tortiniere has a tennis court, table tennis, a heated swimming pool, a pool table, and a spa. The hotel stands in wooded parkland of about 15 hectares with views of the valleys of the Loire and the Indre. You can also rent bikes to reach the village of Montbazon which is about 3 kms away, with its fortified castle dominating the river Indre, or hire a wooden boat on the river Indre. 

In the afternoon you have an included wine-tasting at the hotel under the guidance of the sommelier who will introduce you to three different regional wines and explain their history. Dinner is included tonight at the hotel.

Today you leave the Tours area to travel to your second hotel stay south of Blois. En route this morning there is a stop at Amboise where you have time to visit the castle (entrance ticket included) and then time for lunch (own arrangements) before continuing to your hotel for the night. Amboise is a small town on the banks of the River Loire, and its royal chateau is perched on a promontory above the river. The chateau is a magnificent structure of the Renaissance and is a former royal palace. Inside there are three levels to visit, two of which are dedicated to the Renaissance period. There is also the chapel of Saint-Hubert, the former private oratory of the Kings of France, which houses the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci. Amboise also has over two hectares of gardens: the terrace of Naples which was the first ‘Italian-style’ garden in France and the contemporary garden, composed on the contours of the English-style park imagined by Louis-Philippe in the 19th century. There are thousands of pruned boxwood balls and other remarkable species of trees.

There is free time to explore the town below, stroll the banks of the river and find somewhere for lunch before continuing the journey to the second hotel. Upon arrival, time to check-in and relax before enjoying a welcome aperitif followed by a 3-course dinner this evening

After breakfast you meet your private guide and driver at 09.00 hrs and continue to your first stop of the day: Blois. The royal Chateau de Blois is an outstanding historic monument which embodies four major epochs of French architecture, and each is represented in the façade of the chateau. There is a medieval part dating from the 13th century, a Gothic wing from the reign of Louis XII constructed in 1498-1500, a Renaissance wing dating from 1515-1518 and the reign of François I and a classic wing from the time of Gaston, Duke of Orléans. The chateau houses a collection of more than 35,000 works of art with more than one thousand being exhibited in the different rooms of the chateau at any one time. During the Renaissance times, there were some 25 hectares of gardens; now there are some 2000 sq metres of the Foix terrace, where gardens have been recreated: the Gaston d’Orléans gardens and the Anne-de-Bretagne garden.

On arrival in Chambord, there is a brief stop for an optional lunch at the Relais de Chambord in the grounds of the chateau. This magnificent chateau, which rises from the Sologne marshlands, is the jewel in the crown of François I who ordered the building of the castle in 1519. The chateau became the emblem of the French Renaissance. Inside is a renowned double helix staircase, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci topped by a profusion of chimneys and sculpted capitals on its terraces above. The chateau was completed in the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King. The chateau is surrounded by formal gardens with parterres which were created also in the reign of Louis XIV. At the same time the river Cosson was tamed. Improvements continued over the years with the planting of boxwood, chestnut, hornbeam and numerous plants and exotics in containers including pineapple trees, orange trees and lemon and lime. During the French Revolution the gardens were destroyed and later the flat parterres were grassed over. In 2016 a transformational project was commenced to restore the parterres to a formal French garden. It is this you see today with its flourishes of broderie. Your final visit today is at the Chateau de Cheverny. The site has been occupied since the Middle Ages but the chateau that is visible today dates from the early 17th century and is owned today by descendants of the original builders of the chateau. The grounds were laid out between 1820 and 1860 in the style of an English park, with redwoods, cedars and lime trees. There are six gardens: the vegetable garden, the apprentice’s garden, a tulip garden, the garden of love and the maze. You return to your hotel about 19.00 hrs in time for the 3-course dinner that is included tonight.

Spend today at leisure, either exploring the grounds of the hotel on foot, and perhaps venturing on to one of their traditional wooden boats, trying kayaking or stand-up paddle boarding on the lake in the grounds that is 1,640 ft long. There are cycles you can hire and there is a tennis court at the hotel. There is a final 3-course dinner at the hotel this evening.

You are collected from the hotel after breakfast at about 10 am and taken to Blois railway station where you board a train to Paris. You are transferred again between stations in Paris before taking the Eurostar from the Gare du Nord to London St Pancras to arrive in London late afternoon.