CHÂTEAU DE CHEVERNY

Cheverny cannot be visited as a simple monument, but as a family home. Indeed, this magnificent domain has been linked for more than six centuries to the same family, the Hurault de Vibraye. The current owners, the Marquis de Vibraye, faithfully perpetuate this long tradition in the most beautiful way: by living here. They occupy one of the wings of the largest of the private castles still inhabited in the Loire Valley and open the rest to the public for a visit far removed from that of the great royal residences which privilege the display of the power of the sovereign rather than the well-being of its inhabitants. As soon as you enter, you feel that this is a living castle and this impression is reinforced throughout the visit by the atmosphere that reigns there. The first fortress built around 1500 left few vestiges and was replaced in 1624 by this jewel of classical architecture, made of Bourré stone, a tufa stone with exceptional qualities that hardens and whitens with time. Adorned with busts of Roman emperors, its admirable façade with perfect symmetry is recognizable among all. The harmony continues inside with the extraordinary Louis XIII staircase, the sculptures, the paintings and of course the furniture, because in a castle that has always been inhabited, the treasures of furnishings have accumulated over the centuries. Cheverny served as a model for Hergé, who took over the central part to design Captain Haddock's castle, Moulinsart. Even the broken step of the grand staircase in Les Bijoux de la Castafiore comes from Cheverny! It is this close link that led the domain to open the permanent exhibition that plunges young and old into the world of Tintin. Do not miss the work of a precursor of the comic strip, Jean Mosnier, who in the seventeenth century reproduced on thirty-four panels the adventures of Don Quixote. If the interior is remarkable, the exteriors are no less so, with the park with its hundred-year-old trees that can be discovered by boat or electric car, and its six themed gardens: the vegetable garden, the garden of love, the garden of apprentices, the tulip garden with its 250,000 flowers, the sweet garden with its orchard full of flavors and the labyrinth that allows you to get lost in the middle of laurel trees. Take a welcome gourmet break at the Orangery which houses a snack bar. Don't miss the feeding of the hundred or so dogs of the pack in high season. Numerous events such as Jazzin'Cheverny liven up the gardens of the most pleasant of castles.