PONTLEVOY
Pontlevoy is a village full of character built around its I5th C. chapel and 18th C. Military Academy. Those impressive buildings are still perpetuating a vocation for teaching and for the Arts.
During the Summer season the highly regarded Music Festival is housed in the Abbey building as well as other exhibitions and entertainments. In the municipal park (with tennis courts) took place every year different festivals such as ‘la fête du mouton’ (the sheep festival), various ‘kermesses’ (fairs and charity fêtes) but on July 14th a big colourful pageantry parade with floats recall the Revolution and is the opportunity for enjoying cheerful celebrations on that National Day (fireworks, dance, huge picnic , games etc..)
It is possible to see the 25 wall panels of the Street Museum depicting 20th century rural life thanks to a local photographer who took many pictures dealing with the village life, its traditions, festivals, trades, market scenes, Abbey activities (sports, music), educational institutions, even pictures of the former airfield.
So “the Museum in the street”recreates the village atmosphere, brings back memories of the brilliant past allowing visitors to see how busy rural life was between 1902 and 1950. Local trades and old buildings panels are fixed to the walls close to their original place so you can imagine how it is used to be and also compare with the present times. Large paintings of Mr Desnos, a local painter are displayed near the market place.
Pontlevoy is a village attracting a lot of retired people with a farming community living in a radius if five kilometres (mainly cereals and a few vineyards still growing in the surroundings). There are about 1600 inhabitants.
For fin gourmets there are wine storerooms or ‘chais’ open to visitors for tasting and purchasing local wines (Cabernet, Gamay, Sauvignon, Cots, Créman de Loire is between champagne and sparkling wine).
You can walk around the village or go for a ramble following the nature trails signs or just explore the lovely surroundings by yourself. It is rather flat with sunny wine-clad slopes, but there are also contrasting deep green valleys (Loire and Cher) , woodlands, lakes (for fishing) and even a local Riding school called le Cercle équestre de la Bouamerie should you be interested in riding or having lessons.
Not far from Pontlevoy you can also practise swimming ( Montrichard, Contres, St-Aignan) , rowing and canoeing on some rivers ( there is a kayak club in Amboise), riding a bike to visit other places and avoid the traffic on the main roads, play golf ( 9 holes near Onzain and 18 holes at Cheverny )….
Around Pontlevoy in a radius of forty kilometres
Pontlevoy is more than a quick stop-over. The area gathers so many contrasting landscapes and buildings that a fortnight is recommended to discover the area.
A 10% discount is specially offered to visitors keen on staying for two weeks or more.
Please find below a few notes about the main châteaux found in a radius of 40km around Pontlevoy, a village truly situated in the very heart of the château district which is convenient for visiting so many interesting towns, châteaux, museums, parks etc. to suit everybody’s taste, from discovering the dwelling places of the French kings to enjoying walks, sporting activities, cycling, horse-riding, golf, wine tasting, sampling some local specialities and being delighted with the peaceful and contrasting landscapes appealing to people fond of nature. The Loire valley is an outstanding cultural landscape of great beauty together with the gentle pace of life in Touraine.
Bourré
Just four miles from Pontlevoy brings you to troglodyte dwellings, underground galleries, which are used for mushroom growing and storing thousands of wine bottles. A tour takes you to a “subterranean city’ sculpted in recent years as a tourist attraction; the hills around the village are riddles with enormous cave-like quarries dug deep to get at the famous château-building stone called ‘le tuffeau’ that gets whiter as it weathers. You can also visit a magnanerie (a XVIIth C. silkworm-breeding farm).
Montrichard
Is 8 km away. It is a market town famous for its sandy beach on the River Cher, its swimming pool, its wine cellars with their maze of subterranean galleries, its keep dating from the XIth century with afternoon shows in peak season, including amazing battles with horses, spears and battleaxes. The evening show different from the day spectacle includes many local artists, a team of stupefying stunt riders, light effects and music. Alternatively you can relax and take a cruise on the ‘Leonardo de Vinci’ along the river. There is a nice vegetable market on Fridays.
Chaumont
The nearest château close to Pontlevoy ( only 12km away ) is overlooking the River Loire and is well furnished with interesting stables. In the park, the International Garden Festival takes place every year from May to October, depicting a very artistic theme, enclosing 25 gardens and astonishing canvas structures, a real attraction for the whole family.
Chenonceau
17km away, is one of the most visited châteaux in France after Versailles. It has beautiful gardens and floral decorations, dedicated to the famous Queens Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Médicis. Visit the waxworks and the ‘Ladies Gallery’ which recounts the main events and the famous people who lived here. Chenonceau can also be visited by cruising on the river Cher with an optional meal on board. The railway station is near the park entrance.
Amboise
On the south bank of the Loire is the pretty town of Amboise, with its fortified château dominating the town centre.
Nearby is ‘Le Clos Lucé’ home of Leonardo de Vinci for three years from 1516 till 1519. An exhibition of full size models of his inventions can be seen at the house as well as reproductions of his most famous paintings, including The Mona Lisa. The gardens are extensive and a tea room is available for refreshments. Leonardo died in France and is buried in the grounds of the château.
There are other possible visits such as the famous aquarium and a Chinese pagoda in the forest around Amboise.
Chambord
After 40 km, you discover Chambord estate. It is like the concrete dream of Francis Ist (XVIth C.). It is the largest château in the area (440 rooms).
It shows the very elaborated Renaissance style and you can walk around the terrace to watch the magical turrets and overlook the immense forest which is a national cynegetic park or hunting reserve for stags, wild boars, roe deer, etc…Inspired directly from Italy it provides a unique sight: lanterns, gables, dormer windows, columns, spires, pinnacles intermingled together and 365 chimneys. Under the kings the court spent most of their time on the terrace watching the coming and going of the hunts, military exercises and reviews, tournaments, parties.
The vast domain (over 13000 acres) is surrounded by a 32km long wall. You will be amazed by the massive structure and above all the famous Leonardo da Vinci’s double spiral stairways found in the centre with a top like a crown. The parallel stairways ascend in such a way that two people can go up and down them without ever meeting.
Cheverny
28km away from Pontlevoy, Cheverny is the last château built in the area completely different in style (classical) but fully furnished and nicely decorated.
Don’t forget to discover the ‘pack’ still used for hunting and the Tintin’s exhibition with all the drawings, objects and characters imagined by the artist Hergé.
Blois
Blois, 25 km away is an attractive town with its pedestrian precincts, its château offering a truly architectural lesson in exhibiting three different styles. Every Wednesday night there is an English version of ‘Son et Lumière’ using the most modern effects with laser beams pictures projected on the château walls to recount the glorious but also the tragic hours of the past.
There is also a studfarm and many more museums (Résistance, Déportation).
The musée de l’Objet will attract contemporary art lovers.
However Blois is also famous for the ‘Maison de la Magie’ refering to M. Robert Houdin a famous pioneer in special effects and tricks. The Museum is situated in the opposite direction of the château entrance housing exhibition halls, special effect rooms and one original theatre with a fantastic performance showing tours of magic, unusual tricks and illusionism throughout the ages.
To relax and visit hidden places you can also take a tour of the old city in a horse drawn carriage.
SAINT-AIGNAN / BEAUVAL
Near Saint-Aignan, (20km away) another medieval market town built around the River Cher offering swimming, rowing, canoeing and pedalo boating there is the Parc animalier de Beauval (featuring among the fifteen most beautiful zoological gardens in the world) concentrates 4000 animals on a vast domain of 22 hectares (55 acres).
It is recognized as a highly protected centre carrying a firm conservation message for breeding rare and endangered species such as kaolas, white tigers and lions, okapis, anteaters or species born in Beauval to be sent to other zoos.
Le parc zoologique de Beauval is a member of EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria), EEP (European Programs for the threatened Species) and ESB (Studbook European).
You will be delighted and amazed by the number of unknown birds, mammals etc….the beauty of the scenery, the well-laid-out spaces (the African Savannah habitat, the Australian House, the tropical monkey house, the smaller enclosures for oters, Red pandas, Raccoons and Barbary macaques…the Big cats areas, etc…), the ‘shows’ featuring a family of Californian Sea Lions as well as performing parrots and birds of prey.
It is educational, colourful and many hours can be spent in such a wonderful park full of interesting and rare creatures showing a real gathering of the main species of the five continents
