La Boulangerie Holiday Accommodation

10/07/2020

A lovely depiction of our beautiful region.

18/07/2019

The Loire Valley is not the best place to stay without wheels. But if you are stuck here’s a great idea.

Passez une journée en toute tranquillité

14/07/2019

Chateau Azay-Le-Rideau has a new sound and light show on until 31st of August. If you are in the Loire Valley looks like an impressive display.

06/07/2019

16/06/2019

Can’t wait to have a look at this gorgeous room and collection next trip.

C’est le grand jour... celui de l’ouverture officielle de L’Apothicairerie de la Reine!

Accès libre , inclus dans le billet d’entrée du château Tous les jours de 10h00 à 18h00

L’Apothicairerie de la Reine créée par Catherine de Médicis, au château de Chenonceau, renait en 2019 et ouvre au public le 15 juin, dans le lieu même où elle existait autrefois, Le Bâtiment des Dômes. Avec une collection inestimable de plus de 300 pots, objets et tableaux….

05/05/2019

Some images of La Boulangerie from our latest visit April 2019.

21/04/2019

A little bit of Easter planting @ La Boulangerie Holiday Accommodation

19/04/2019

Montresor 20 mins drive from St Aignan. ☺️🌞

19/04/2019

We took a day out of house preparation to head to the ZooParc Beauval yesterday. We have been coming to St Aignan for 7 years now and seeing this zoo grow has been amazing. The day before Easter long weekend it was crowded, however we still managed to see what we wanted to and have minimal queuing for things like the new cable car. Every year new exhibits are completed. This year we were surprised to see the cable car system added. A new enclosure featuring Tassie Devils is nearly finished and an enormous new tropical bio domes construction is nearing completion and is due to open next year.

It’s really worth a day out of your schedule loose yourself at Beauval.

17/04/2019

I’m working on my waistline..... Day 3 of 7 days of 🥐 for breakfast!!!! Best croissants in town Boulangerie Patisserie du Chateau
Thank you. I think they are the BEST in the world!

17/04/2019

Dinner last night at Le Mange Grenouille . So very grateful for the translation! Wow! It’s quite a menu. Thanks to Joël Delaunay Wines for a lovely Gamay!

16/04/2019

Visited the town of Châteauroux. It’s cathedral is a stunning gothic monument. Adore the chandelier! Châteauroux is just under a hours drive from St Aignan on gorgeous country roads through the amazing town of Valencay, known for its famous pyramid shaped goats cheese and wine region. It is also home to the magnificent Chateau du Valencay.

14/04/2019

We have arrived in our beautiful little town. Plenty of tasks to do to get the house summer ready. We will post some fun shots soon. The sun is however out and our local Boulangerie is still making the most delicious 🥐 in the world!

12/03/2018

While we are flat out working in Melbourne some friends of ours have been snowed in in St Aignan! Feeling so terribly sorry for them! Thanks for sharing the gorgeous pics of our little town in the snow, Mark and Jane! Glad you are enjoying our super toasty little Boulangerie!

11/02/2018

Why aren’t we all there???!!!! What a beautiful winter it is in France.

10/01/2018

If you can’t be in the Loire Valley sample a sneaky little Gamay from Borre. Welcome to Mark and Jane who will be living at La Boulangerie for the next 4 months! Bottoms up to an amazing stay.

01/01/2018

Know that when you stay at ours the finer details are considered. We want you to be super comfy and tell everyone about your beautiful stay.

28/12/2017

Chateau Chambord is beautiful to visit anytime but Christmas looks really special.

12/10/2017

It's a stunning afternoon in St Aignan! Just had to quickly share these pics before I head off in search for wine!

11/10/2017

It feels like forever since the last post! We took a little trip to Porto! It was wonderful and I have lots of pics! I will post them later.

In between wrestling furniture up and down our ancient little stairwell in the top story, more maintenance and house shopping we have managed to get out for a few trips.

Yesterday we went to Amboise and saw the Royal Chateau. There are so many chateaux in the Loire Valley it so hard to choose which ones to see. We had never been inside so we thought it was time for a look. Our french history is improving and it was interesting to see this chateau and learn more about it's inhabitants. The chapel here is also the resting place of Leonardo Da Vinci.

The gardens and views of the Loire River and city from its walls are exceptional.

02/10/2017

As expected dinner went well last night as our guests said they liked dinner! It actually did taste pretty good so I suspect they weren't just being polite!

We had some blinis,salad, beef bourguignon with mashed potato and beans and pain du chocolate pudding.

01/10/2017

We love walking around town, checking out everyone's gardens and seeing whats new. Here are some pics from around St Aignan.

01/10/2017

Today we are cooking french for the french!!!! Hope I don't stuff it up!

30/09/2017

I am shattered as I have written this post 5 times now and I have tapped one wrong key and keep loosing my text!!!!

In short:

Get to Chambord now it has beautiful new gardens to match it's majesty. Make sure you take a tour, they are run by historians employed by the chateau. Inspired us to research interesting characters of the period. Go for a walk in the forest in autumn!

28/09/2017

The first time we came to St Aignan was in 2009. Everybody in town was raving about the zoo. What a great opportunity to have a zoo in the town when you have kids! We went along and thought it was pretty ordinary, especially as we are used to our beautiful zoo in Melbourne.

Yesterday the weather was going to be brilliant so we headed off to the zoo. It is 3kms from the house so it took us 5 minutes to drive there. It is pretty quiet at the moment as french school holidays are well over.

Straight through the gates and we are greeted by the always entertaining Lemar of King Julian fame! The front of the zoo is a reminder of the exhibits from 1978 around when the zoo first opened. On wandering through this part the flamingos are a highlight and the next on the list are the penguins. We must have stood there for half an hour studying these guys!

A few years ago there was Pandamonium in town when two Giant Pandas were bought across from China. A stunning enclosure was created for them with beautiful surrounding gardens and fixtures. We ate lunch in this section yesterday and had a really nice sweet and sour chicken. The two Pandas have now just had a cub but she is still too small to come out of the nursery.

There is a brand new Lion area that provides a massive space for the pride to run. The facilities in this area are amazing for a zoo, clearly no expense has been spared. The Hippo enclosure is ridiculously over sized to accommodate the 2 hippos! but a beautiful zone within the park. I'm not a fan of performing seals but the seal show entertained the crowd.

The bird show was like nothing I have seen before. It started with beautiful owls flying low over our heads. I felt like I was a Hogwarts getting a mail delivery when these owls were coming straight at us. The usual groups of falcons, hawks, vultures and eagles all came out and then a mass of birds were sent out to fly around us in an amazing spectacle. Parrots, mawcaws, pelicans and ground dwelling birds came out to play too.

We arrived at 10:30 in the morning and didn't leave till 7. It was just a fabulous day out, so if you are in town definitely don't miss it. Tripadvisor rates it as the 8th best zoo in the world!

26/09/2017

So it's not all beer and skittles owning a house in far away lands. Today was our obligatory day for shopping in Tours!

Every year we choose to invest in updating furniture, doing maintenance and general up keep. Today we bought a new bed, bedside tables and wardrobe along with stocking up on mugs, wine glasses, new fry pans, knives and some utensils. We have a nice new rug for the lounge and some new cushions for the covers we bought over.

Close to the furniture shops is the massive Carrefour supermarket. We MUST go there! The food range is ridiculous. I get quite daunted here there is just too much choice! It's a bit embarrassing taking photos but I snapped a couple in my favourite section (the deli). For anyone interested in food pricing I have also attached a copy of our receipt from the Super U.

A little spring cleaning and drinks and dinner at Aux Cepages with friends rounded out the day.

25/09/2017

Today started off a little slow with some drizzle. On the morning walk we wandered along the beautiful tree lined avenue Gambetta that leads into town from the north.

We took a trip to the local furniture shops to check out some new beds and off to the Bricolage to pick up some paint to add some fresh coats to the kitchen.

This afternoon we went to collect 117 chestnuts. Abbey has named each one! A little walk through the chateau bought back some amazing memories from our wedding just over two years ago.

Some afternoon painting and a spot of cheese will be in order!