While I was Wandering: Cheverny

This Château is well known for several reasons. It is home to about 100 French hounds as the Château is a popular hunting venue. The Château also serves as the real-life inspiration for Marlinspike Hall featured in the Tintin cartoons. There is a permanent exhibition in the same building as the Trophy Room that focuses on the Tintin cartoons.

While I was Wandering: Cheverny

Our first stop on our tour of the Château was at the kennels. As you enter the property you can hear the hounds in the kennels. The sounds draw you to the kennels. The hounds are lively, especially before lunch! They will approach the edge of the kennel and offer their nose up for a little hello. They are quite beautiful and friendly. After some time with the dogs we were off to the Château.

When we entered the Château we learned in addition to the artifacts in the Château we would be treated to a temporary exhibition telling the tales of history through Legos. They expertly matched the stories and fables illustrated in Lego art to the permanent art in each room and the purpose of each room. For example, there were Lego mice and rats in the kitchen enjoying the fruit and sweets on the table set with Cheverny china plates! The exhibition was an enjoyable treat for children and adults alike.

While I was Wandering: Cheverny

The Château is expertly maintained. We toured through the dining room, private apartments (which included the current owner’s beautiful wedding gown on display), arms room, King’s bedchamber, chapel, vestibule, grand salon, gallery, portrait room, library, and tapestry room.

While I was Wandering: Cheverny

These rooms are all beautiful, and along with the free tour booklet we received with our tickets, we were able to fully appreciate the history of this Château, the restoration and maintenance work it takes to keep it in top condition, and enjoy the general setting inside and out.

While I was Wandering: Cheverny Lunch

We had one of our favorite lunch here on our trip at the Orangery – coffee, and an assortment of a macaroon, brownie and cheesecake! There is a full service restaurant in the Orangery as well, but we opted for the sweet treat lunch as it was just 11:00 in the morning. The attention to detail and service level was welcome. Our brownie was warmed up and served with cream, the cheesecake draped in caramel, and the coffees made individually. A fun part of the meal was the Chevery napkins that have a fun print of the Château on them with the hounds.

Since it was a rainy day we opted to not walk the gardens. This was the one downside of the trip to this Château, but you make the most of the day you are given.  After stopping by to say goodbye to the hounds we were off to our next château.

Our Tips:

• Be sure to visit the hounds on your trip. I am afraid of dogs, but even I enjoyed this part of the visit to Cheverny. They feed the dogs around lunch time, it gets crowded at the kennels then. We chose to miss the crowds for the feeding.
• Take your time in the Château. This is a well maintained property and along with the guidebook you can learn a lot about not only this property, but also life in France in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
• Treat yourself at the Orangery with a sweet treat!