Château de Cheverny
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Cheverny

Fifteen kilometres southeast of Blois, the Château de Cheverny (daily: July & Aug 9.15am–6.45pm; April–June & Sept 9.15am–6.15pm; Oct–March 9.30am–noon & 2.15–5/5.30pm; www.chateau-cheverny.fr; €5.80) is the perfect example of a seventeenth-century Château. Built between 1604 and 1634 and never altered, it presents an immaculate picture of symmetry, harmony and the aristocratic good life – descendants of the first owners still own, live in and go hunting from Cheverny today. Its stone, from Bourré on the River Cher, lightens with age, and the Château gleams like a great white brick in its acres of rolling parkland. The interior decoration has only been added to, never destroyed, and the extravagant display of paintings, furniture, tapestries and armour against the gilded, sculpted and carved walls and ceilings is extremely impressive. The most precious objects are hard to pick out from the sumptuous whole, but some highlights are the painted wall panels in the dining room telling stories from Don Quixote; the vibrant, unfaded colours of the Gobelin tapestry in the arms room; and the three rare family portraits by François I's court painter, François Clouet, in the gallery.

You can explore the elegant grounds on foot, or take a sedate tour by golf-buggy and boat (April to mid-Nov; €4.60). The kennels near the main entrance are certainly worth a look: a hundred lithe hunting hounds mill and loll about while they wait for the next stag; feeding time (5pm) is something to be seen. Cheverny's hunt culls (or kills, depending on your point of view) around thirty animals a year, a figure set by the National Forestry Office.

Near Cheverny you can stay at the elegant, rustic Hôtel des Trois Marchands (tel 02.54.79.96.44, www.hoteldes3marchands.com; €40–55; closed March), in COUR-CHEVERNY, Cheverny's larger neighbour; the hotel's restaurant is not bad at all, with menus from around €15.