PARK AND CASTLE OF BEAUREGARD

A veritable key to revealing and deciphering history, Beauregard is a little-known treasure of the Loire Valley. It has been inhabited by the same family since 1926. A former hunting lodge built by Chambord on the orders of François ^I, Beauregard was at the heart of the sumptuous and entertaining life of the court. It later belonged to aristocrats close to the royal power who never ceased to embellish it. The Galerie des Portraits is a monumental room built by three generations of the Ardier family, who owned it in the ^17th century. It contains 327 portraits of important figures in European history. The ensemble is completed by a rich lapis lazuli ceiling of astonishing freshness and a paving of 5,600 Delft faience tiles representing the various corps of a marching army under Louis XIII. A veritable ceremonial gallery, where the portraits have become the subject of passionate debate, today it is an educational tool par excellence, revealing the historical links between its characters. The tour also includes a large Renaissance kitchen with two fireplaces, used until 1968, and a fine collection of 80 copper dishes, saucepans and cake molds. Another exceptional piece dating from the ^16th century is Jean du Thier's working cabinet or studiolo, made by Scibec de Carpi, King Henri II's cabinetmaker. In the second gallery, among other fine pieces of furniture, visitors can admire a magnificent Burgundian sideboard with hidden locks, returned to France from Teheran in 1840. A lovely 40-hectare landscaped park makes for a pleasant stroll, during which you can discover the beautiful ruins of the ^13th-century chapel and the ^18th-century icehouse, the forerunner of refrigerators. This comfort feature was filled with ice from the estate's ponds and kept foodstuffs fresh all summer long. Re-imagined by Parisian landscape gardener Gilles Clément (Parc André Citroën and Musée du Quai Branly garden), the park was given a new "portrait" garden in 1992. Last but not least, the park boasts over a hundred old roses, making it one of the largest rose gardens in the Loire Valley.