Five brocades and a clock at Chambord

Today we're peeking inside the Chateau de Chambord rather than taking a look around the gardens outside the church. And rather than show you the large halls, that were easily 30ft wide by 90ft long and sparsely decorated I'm sharing some of the wall coverings we saw. The heavily brocade wallpapers appeared in many of the rooms. The patterns changed, as did the colours. Often gold was present, except in the blue which was in the chamber of the queen, Maria Theresa of Spain the first wife of Louis XIV in the seventeenth century.

RED

PINK

YELLOW

BLUE

GREEN

FACADE CLOCK

Seeing them all together like this highlights the differences in the pattern, but as I wandered from room to room the patterns weren't quite so obvious.  The clock was set in the central window of the south facade and kept time over the chateau for three centuries and it worked using a cable and pulley system before being retired in 1950. 

The final two pictures I'm sharing were back in the chamber with the blue brocade wallpaper. At the end of the bed was this studded leather chest and beyond it was a cabinet inlaid with mother of pearl. Aren't they great?

The gardens at Chateau de Chambord

Yesterday I shared pictures from our cycle to Chambord through the pretty French countryside, today because it's Thursday I'm sharing some of the plants and flowers I saw in the gardens there.  Thursdays on my blog are all about gardens and gardening and I link up with a fabulous community brought together by Annie over at Fable and Folk.  But it's likely that today will be the last time that will happen as Annie is saying goodbye to blogging. I'll miss her blog, but I know I've made a special friend through this blogging lark, and for that I'm grateful.

Right, back to the gardens. If I'm honest I'd hoped for more, but when I put this post together I realised there were more than I thought.  All of these pictures are from the garden area leading to the front of the church.

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The planting was mainly large bushes and when we were there, most were in flower. There were plants I recognised, like these roses but plenty I didn't know too.

The euphorbias were of the giant kind and yes, MOH still calls them dalek plants. It wasn't until our second visit that I took these shots, and instead of the lovely sunny day of our first visit it was a little damp. But looking on the plus side it gives the photos an extra sheen. It also meant we went in the car, so there was room to bring at least a couple of cases back in the car. Silver linings and all that.

And just look at the gate. How beautiful?

THE GATE AT THE CHURCH DOOR

It wasn't all green though, there were plenty of mostly pink coloured flowers, like these rhododendrons and the roses. And roses became the flower of our holiday, we saw them - and smelt them - everywhere. Before now I could happily leave roses, but now I'm definitely a convert.

Walking further away from the church there was a woodland walk with a whole mass of ferns, most green but not all.

And look at this. It made me smile as soon as I saw it. I've not idea what it is, but it did remind me of my blog header!

The edging of the woodland walk was special too, just look how nature combines white and green with spectacular results.

But then just as I was getting used to the green and white pallette, along came dramatic colour with this Sambucus Nigra, or Elderberry. I've got one in my garden too planted in memory of Dylan, my first cat a black long-haired moggy who, sadly has been gone many years now.

And the berries, which somehow glistened even more brightly in the rain.

Looking back at these photos, there was much more than I thought, but not the formal gardens I'd half expected.

Arriving at Chambord by bike

After looking around the pretty town of Beaugency we were back on the bikes and cycling towards Blois. Rather than take the same route as the day before we decided to head inland once we reached St Dyé towards Chambord. We'd seen the Loire à Vélo signs the day before and were confident it wouldn't add too many miles onto our journey. 

But first we had to get to St Dyé. I hadn't taken many photos on this part of our cycle so I planned to put that right. Starting with this quaint little building. I'm sure it had a practical use but it looked pretty too.

As we cycled close to where we'd had lunch the previous day we agreed to stop and slap on some suntan lotion as we could start to feel it burning through the clouds. We've caught the sun on cloudy-but-warm cycles before and didn't want to get caught out again.  And this pretty setting for a bench made the perfect place for that. The hedgerows behind were covered in elderflower and their scent was starting to make itself known.

On the move again we cycled steadily along to St Dyé and paused to admire the full river.  And it was hard to imagine this pretty, sleepy village as the former river port for Chambord, where all of the building materials arrived. It's hard to believe now isn't it?

My plan was to wander around the village and take even more photos, a plan that had the approval of MOH too. But after heading past three Swiss cyclists and stopping for a beer, when we left the bar the photographs were forgotten as we didn't want to be overtaking them again. And so it wasn't long before we found ourselves at the entrance to the estate of Chambord and this rather charming lodge. 

The stag between the first floor windows made me smile and I hoped was an indication of the grandeur that awaited us. And well, I wasn't wrong or disappointed.

We cycled around the edge of the main grounds to get the shot above and cycled much closer for the shot below. The week before our visit the chateau had been shut as they fought to keep the rising waters away from it, so it was really good to see it open. In fact it was a relaxed type of place and one that didn't object to people cycling around the grounds, even close to the outer wall.

After posing for some photos and then taking even more we found a bench with a view to eat our baguette and cheese of the day. Not a bad view was it? 

So today we had our first glimpse at a proper chateau, just from the outside. We would go in, but not today as we still had to get ourselves to Blois, 11 miles or so further on. The other reason for not going in today was I hadn't been organised enough to buy my chateau-multi-ticket - or the Pass Châteaux de la Loire (see below) - online and that was a job for tomorrow in Blois.

Need to know

Loire à Vélo cycling trail

This is a well signposted and ever growing route which links the towns of the Loire Valley. There are plenty of accredited hotels all of which are located within 5km of the path. There's also a special Loire à Vélo train which runs between the towns, although we were a couple of weeks too early for that, and there's much more information to help you plan your trip on the site.  Thoroughly recommend the site and the trail.

Chateau de Chambord

it's probably one of the most well-known chateaus in France and work started in 1519. Amazingly it wasn't built as a permanent residence.  It was included on the first historical monuments list in France in 1840; the forest and wall were listed in 1997. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981.

Pass Châteaux de la Loire

I'd love to say that I found this with my extensive pre-holiday research, and I did find it before we went but just not in enough time to buy online, so luckily the tickets were also available from the Tourist Office in Blois.  If you're visiting the Loire and have chateaux in your sights then take a look at the many options to buy a multi-ticket.