Should I stay ? or should I go ?: Loire Valley

Back from a lovely trip to the Loire Valley, great wine and french pastries

We sailed on P&O ferries from Hull to Zeebrugge overnight and then drove down to Cheverny.

We had a mixed bag of weather but we made the most of it and we did see a bit of sun most days.

We stayed on a nice campsite in Cheverny

http://www.camping-cheverny.com/ - the owner Laurent was really friendly and welcoming

The pool area was spotless and when the sun came out it was a great place to relax and have the odd game of table tennis too. The covered pool was nice when it started to rain.

My dad took his tent but me and Gary stayed in a lodge

Cheverny was a small pretty village

On our first full day we headed to the town of Blois to visit the chateau.

The grounds and building were lovely and the buildings were very impressive

We opted for the audio guide and it made the visit very interesting and it took you through the chateau room by room

The view from the top was great over the city of Blois and the rooftops

We had a nice lunch at an outdoor restaurant outside the chateau

On our second night me and Gary headed to the local french restaurant in Cour Cheverny called Les Trois Marchands. I had read the reviews and we were not disappointed.

http://www.relaisdestroischateaux.com/fr/restaurant-bistrot-cheverny-les-trois-marchands.php

We both opted for the steak and poivre sauce & we shared a lovely bottle of local Loire valley wine

The service was lovely and the ambiance was really nice too

We just chilled out the next day locally and then we headed to Chambord to visit the chateau.

Again what an impressive building

We had a lovely sunny day on this day which made for some lovely photos

Dad biked to the chateau and we met him there

On the way into the grounds we came across a mini winery and did a mini wine tasting from the local vineyard http://www.maisondesvinschambord.com/. We bought a case of a white sauvignon.

Inside the chateau the rooms were very impressive

The next day we just decided to drive and see where we came across, we drove through some lovely villages but nothing really to stop for so we headed back via Blois for lunch and cakes

Gary found his new car on the way back along the river

On our last day we found another local winery and you could taste up to 100 wines. We paid 6 euros each to taste 7 wines each - so we were able to taste 14 between us (bonus)

http://www.maisondesvinsdecheverny.fr/en/

We bought another 2 cases of lovely white wine.

On the last night we all headed to a lovely Italian in Cheverny called Pinocchio

http://www.lepinocchio.fr/

Very welcoming waiter and we were seated at a nice table outside

We shared a nice bottle of wine and the food was spot on too

Then it was time for a farewell drink at the bar back on the campsite

The next day it was the long 5 hour drive back to Zeebrugge.

I was not looking forward to the ferry as we had a very small room on the way out. Once we got on board we decided to upgrade to Club Class which was so worth it it finished our trip off perfectly. We had to settle for 2 single beds but it was still 100 times better than the inside bunk cabin we had on the outward journey. Complimentary champagne !!