CHEVERNY

After Chambord we headed straight for Chateau Cheverny.  There is a free aire there and we will stay the night.  We decided that since there weren’t a lot of people we will see this castle today and finish the last one.  We  park up in the aire and head over to the castle.  A huge storm is on its way and I want to get into the castle before it hits, but in true form the small queue in front of us takes forever to go through.  We have a bit of a walk to get there, but we make it just before the rain hits. This seems to be  bit habit forming – having thunderstorms.  I hope we don’t encounter any hail.  I have read that this castle is the best furnished in the Loire because they opened it to the public in the 1920’s.  It has also been in the one family for over 6 centuries and is still privately owned by them.  They have obviously kept the castle in pristine condition through all those years.

As we wander through, the rooms are beautifully decorated and they do have a lot of furniture on display.  They have opened up part of the castle and they live in the other wing not on display. Most of the rooms have hand painted ceilings and walls that were done by a painter called Pierre Monier.  The painting inside is amazing and very detailed.  This castle has to be by far the most spectacular inside, although quite a small one compared to the others. Cheverny was used as a model by Herge for the Tin Tin books.

They have large grounds here but the biggest contention I have about this place – where I would give them a zero rating is that they keep 100 hounds and go hunting twice a week with them.  The dogs are kept in a concrete enclosure that in my opinion is far too small and is quite disgusting to keep them in.  The dogs had open wounds on them from fighting each other and the poor females were being set upon by several male dogs who just wouldn’t leave them alone – a horrible stressful existence.  I was so disgusted at the end I wrote an awful comment in their guest book about animal cruelty.  This may have been ok a century ago but it isn’t ok in todays society.  Not to mention the poor foxes they hunt with 100 dogs descending on them, they don’t stand a chance.