Les Balcons
in Le Grand Pressigny is
a substantial 3 bed room house over two floors
with a delightful raised balcony offering lovely views to give you a
countryside feel but with all the village amenities.
Le Bourg is a lovely riverside barn conversion with separate 'petite maison'. The house is in the village of Barrou, in the department of Indre
et Loire, France and as the name suggests 'Le Bourg' is located in the centre
of the village. Its situation means you have the benefits of experiencing a small French village but you are also ideally placed to visit all the major attractions of the Loire valley plus some of the highlights of the neighbouring department of 'Vienne.
Descartes is set
on the river Creuse, in Southern Touraine within the Loire Valley. The town was home to the famous
philosopher and mathematician René Descartes and there is museum dedicated
to him in the house where he was born. It is open from 16 March until 21 November daily from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day except Tuesdays, like most museums in France.
The village of Descartes has a popular Sunday morning market, where
you can buy the locally made, famous, goats cheese, Sainte Maure de Touraine, fresh home-grown produce and wines of the region or simply enjoy the atmosphere by joining the local people for a coffee in one of the bars on the square.
There is also a choice of well-stocked supermarkets in the
town
that make an ideal stop-off, if travelling down
from Tours to a holiday destination in Southern Touraine, to pick up some fresh fruit and veg. local
wines and cheeses to get your holiday off to a pleasant
start.
For
leisure Descartes offers a heated outdoor swimming pool
complex with slides (open July and August, no outdoor
shorts
allowed); baby pool, 25 metre pool and large sunbathing
area,and cafeteria. There is a children's play park, crazy golf,
fishing, canoeing* on the river Creuse, and tennis.
The town has a lovely, well cared for park which also has a small animal park for the kids. It is laid out on the banks of the river Creuse and if you visit the town you should make a point of taking a stroll through it.
The town
also has a lovely little cinema that shows 'art films' -
with films in English shown once/month.
You can hire canoes which can be
taken up-river to Barrou to allow you to return downstream at your leisure
The town has a link with the World
War II in that the line separating occupied and
free France is on the road heading out of the town in
the direction of Barrou / Le Blanc.
Another sad connection with WWII
can be found nearby in the
village
of Maillé, in the direction of St.Maur-de-Touraine
where on June 10, 1944 as Paris was being liberated, the
village residents (124), mainly women and children, were
the victims of an organized massacre from the occupying
German army in retaliation for actions of the
resistance.The massacre lasted all morning.
In the afternoon and late into the night, the village was bombarded with artillery shelling , completing its destruction. There is a small
museum dedicated to the victims.
You
can also
explore the troglodyte dwellings at nearby St.Rémy-sur Creuse. Ethni'Cité, as it is
referred to gives you a glimpse - just a glimpse- of
what cave dwelling living and working was like. The
exhibits are presented in this unique setting carved
into the rockface.
In the Middle Ages these caves were the refuge of
lepers. Weavers later used the caves as workshops,
benefiting from the presence of underground streams.
There was also, allegedly, a fortress on the top of the
outcrop built by Richard the Lionheart. A small tower
buried under heavy vegetation is all that now remains.
