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Featured
gite / houses
Les Balcons
in Le Grand Pressigny is
a substantial 3 bedroom house ( sleeps 6)over two floors
with a delightful raised balcony offering lovely views to give you a
countryside feel but with all the village amenities.
Click here to visit owner's web site
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The chateau at
Azay-le-Ferron is not one you will find
on many 'must see' lists of Loire Valley chateaux but if you
are visiting Southern Touraine you should include this
exquisite building in your itinerary. Located in the
department of Indre in France, in the village of the same name,
the chateau's architecture is from the XV to the XVIII
century. Visiting here is like travelling through history.
From the outside you can observe the different influences on
its build and design. Each owner has added something to this
Chateau, a tower (built during the 15th century), a garden,
an entire wing, or just internal corridors.
Closed during winter, the Chateau opens its doors to
visitors at the start of spring every year.
 There
are
18 rooms
open to the public. Each of them sumptuously decorated
from different periods. The visit takes you through the
halls, kitchens, bedrooms, libraries and dining rooms.
Children are prompted by the tour guide to discover secret
doors that lead to secret passages joining the rooms.
Its interior
evokes the life-style of a rich and comfortable rural
residence where hunting parties and receptions were
organized until the early 20th century.
The owners
The
history of the Chateau dates back to
1250 with
the name of its first owner, Le Chevalier Banneret, Nicolas
de Turpin de Crisse. The successive owners remained Barons
until 1789. After that, the Chateau was bought by a
businessman and later by a banker for Napoleon. In 1833, the
Chateau was bought by the Luzarche family; master
blacksmiths but they had to donate the Chateau to the city of Tours
in 1951 because they had run out of inheritors.
The Gardens
The Chateau
has 1000 Hectares of woods.
There are around 20 hectares of
gardens made up into various "styles", like the
French style garden, the English style garden, the vegetable garden, the
rose garden (with roses going back as far as the
XIX century), topiaries,
vineyards, orchards and so on.
The chateau
caters for
different activities all year round
from exhibitions to conferences.
There are also
local produce markets and in their shop
you can find examples of honey and other local
specialities.
You can
picnic in the gardens and take walks around the woods. There
is a path of 4Km. that crosses the park and returns through
the village of
Azay le Ferron.
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