Chateau du Rivau The king of the castle outside Villandry Giant wellies at the Rivau Gardens The obligatory wine tasting in The Loire Valley The stunning Chateau Louise Napoleon Bonaparte was a regular visitor to the beautiful Chateau de Rochecotte in the Loire Valley where I’m staying and it’s intriguing to think I might have the same room. It’s certainly pretty enough for a French Emperor and much of the period furniture in the house has survived to this day. Previous owners of the grand 18th century chateau include the Duchess of Dino, who was a confidante of Napoleon, and French prime minister, the Prince of Talleyrand.
Kings Louis XVIII and Charles X were also visitors along with two of France’s greatest writers, Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac. So, I’m in esteemed company while staying in this historic home — now a four-star hotel — situated in the “Valley of the Kings,” where numerous monarchs lived over the centuries. The king of the castle outside Villandry I’m on a tour of the Touraine region of the Loire Valley, famous not only for its historic chateaux but also for its magnificent gardens.
And we begin our journey in one of the greatest of them all, Villandry, the last of the major Loire chateaux built during the Renaissance. Constructed by Jean Le Breton, finance minister for King Francis I in the 16th century, it fell into decline in the following centuries until it was bought in 1906 by Joachim Carvallo, of Spanish origin, and his America.
