The Loire Valley

Sancerre
Della: "On the way there and back we saw lovely countryside. It had lots of vineyards. Everything was autumny." 

Overlooking the Loire Valley, from Sancerre

The Loire Valley

 

Sancerre



Catherine stops the car to pick some mushrooms

Not these, though!

A sweet village en route from Fussy to Sancerre



Breakfast at Catherine's
Della: "I had a plain croissant, a chocolate croissant and  hot chocolate. Yummy yum yum!"

At Catherine's

This was one of the places we really regretted not allocating more time to. We had only 1 1/2 days with our friend Catherine, and when you see the pics in this post and the next you'll see why it wasn't enough.

This was also the only leg where I stuffed up our bookings. I booked the girls and I train tickets from Paris to Bourges, but not Matthew and I! Luckily all turned out OK. We took a mix of buses and trains to reach our destination, the hotel L'Echalier in Fussy.

I had met Catherine Brys in Hobart, where she helped found the Taste of Tasmania food festival, but it wasn't until we were all living in London in the early 2000s that we became friends. Catherine was working for an Argentinian baron in Chelsea and then went on to work for the royal family in Luxembourg, before buying her hotel/restaurant in her home country. But while she's French by birth and has elected to live in France for now, I'm sure Catherine is Australian at heart (especially judging by the amount of vegemite she goes through!) and will be back with us before too long.

Catherine was a wonderful hostess during our short stay and we were very lucky that she took a rare break from work to show us the local sights.

Neither Sancerre nor Bourges are in our French Lonely Planet but both are stunning. We thought they were particularly beautiful in autumn. Sancerre is a well-known wine district and the wine museum in the town is worth a visit. The surrounding countryside is lovely to drive through.

Bourges was a delightful surprise. We'd heard about the UNECSO-listed Bourges cathedral - and had seen countless pics on Catherine's Facebook page of visitors assuming pious poses under the arches near the entrance (we have now joined them). But I'd had no idea the whole town was so pretty - the architecture, the winding cobbled streets, the gardens. We had a lovely day exploring the town and enjoying a delicious lunch at Le Chapeau Melon, before returning to the hotel for MORE eating. We were so spoilt by Catherine's wonderful cooking while we were there.

We also enjoyed the company of Catherine's 'workaway' Pierre - a Frenchman who now lives in Columbia, but was spending some time back in France with Catherine providing accommodation and board in lieu of help in the restaurant/bar and design of a new website for L'Echalier (http://hotel-echalier.fr/?lang=en).

We'd highly recommend Catherine's very comfortable hotel for anyone planning to visit this beautiful part of the world.