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Browsing All posts tagged under »France«

Montrichard: Val de Loire

Nov 10, 2018 by scribbling4bread

Looming over the town of MonTrichard (the T is sounded) is the impressive donjon which has dominated the countryside for miles around for the last thousand years. We assumed ‘donjon’ meant dungeon, a prison down in the bowels of the earth but no, the French use dungeon too. Donjon means the exact opposite, architecturally speaking. It’s what we call a Keep, a large tower built in fortified residences, a place of last resort should the rest of the castle fall.

Romorantin

Oct 6, 2018 by scribbling4bread

The best part of writing a book is the research. It takes you on a journey of discovery to places you would never have heard of and therefore would never have seen. A good case in point is Romorantin in France. Researching for Leonardo da Vinci: The Amboise Connection I found out that once […]

The Duke of Windsor and Château Candé

Sep 2, 2018 by scribbling4bread

Château Candé is one of the unexpected delights of the Loire Valley, especially for English tourists because this is where they lost their King to love. This is where Edward VIII married Wallis Simpson, the woman for whom he gave up everything, his Crown, his country, his family, his very identity of who he was […]

Beauval Zoo (2-3) Why We Must Not Shut The Zoo Gates.

Jul 16, 2017 by scribbling4bread

In March 2017, the journalist Ian Birrell wrote a piece for the ‘i’ newspaper: Why We Must Shut the Zoo Gates. It’s his view, he’s entitled, but one he might change if he went to Beauval Zoo in France, a beautiful seventy acre park for animals which humans are allowed to share. Mr Birrell asked […]

Gare de Tours France

Jul 5, 2017 by scribbling4bread

The Gare de Tours is quite simply wonderful. It was built between 1896 and 1898 during what is now known nostalgically as La Belle Époque, a time of peace and prosperity when France was the cultural centre of the world.

Loches.

May 6, 2017 by scribbling4bread

The Loire Valley has many common or garden châteaux but Loches is a Royal Château which means it was owned and lived in by French Royalty. One of the most important, historically speaking, in France, it still has the feel of what it was, a mighty fortress.

French Gems at The British Museum

Feb 1, 2017 by scribbling4bread

Fans of all things French (well, maybe not all) we trotted off to the British Museum to see the Exhibition French Portrait Drawings from Clouet to Courbet. The publicity promised it would be full of gems from the Museum’s collection and did not disappoint (France must be gnashing its teeth). Added Bonus: Because the Museum owns copyright we were allowed to take photographs. A rare treat.

The Mini-Châteaux of Amboise

Dec 15, 2016 by scribbling4bread

There are model villages and then there are model villages and then there’s model châteaux, thirty-three of them in one park, the perfect introduction to the Loire Valley especially for those poor souls who visited in the summer of 2016 which saw the worst flooding seen in a century. Unable to visit the real châteaux […]

Christmas in Amboise

Dec 14, 2016 by scribbling4bread

Christmas in Amboise is, unfortunately, getting more like Christmas in the UK but there are a few merciful respites. Decorated Christmas trees and Father Christmases do begin to pop up in December but on the whole, things are much more low key. There is no spending frenzy. The French do not go into debt. […]

Soul Food. Loches

Nov 26, 2016 by scribbling4bread

Off to Loches to look at some art. The first exhibition was in the wonderful Lansyer Museum. To go there is to go back to the 1830s. The lovely old house still has its original parquet floors, fireplaces and many other period features. The museum is dedicated to Emmanuel Lansyer, architect turned artist who inherited […]