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35 more of Peregrine's brilliant articles on France
You’ve been dithering about this year’s holiday. Understandably, what with the
financial world in meltdown and terrible uncertainty hanging over Cristiano
Ronaldo’s future. Now, though, it’s decision time. Do you stay in Britain or
not?
Let me do two things: (a) give you the long-range weather forecast. “We’re
certainly not expecting a particularly dry summer,” said a jolly Met Office
chap last week. “It is expected to be wetter than average.” And (b) suggest
France.
For a start, it’s not far. It involves no long-haul flights, jabs against
disgusting diseases or being treated as terrorists by fat-bottomed customs
officers. It has everything in one country: beaches, sun, mountains,
forests, lakes, culture, wine, proper villages and the world’s best-looking
presidential wife.
And, despite the plunging pound, it remains affordable. Not cheap – some of
the prices below are a little eyewatering – but reasonable value for the
standards involved.
Recently, I stayed in a decent three-star double room for £55 a night and had
a very acceptable five-course lunch, with ample wine, for £30. The taxi back
wasn’t overpriced, either. If I could remember exactly how much after all
the wine, I’d tell you.
Here’s our guide to what we reckon to be the key French regions for summer
2008. All prices are for high season.
LOIRE VALLEY
The key points here are: first, don’t try to do too many chateaux. Six in a
week is an absolute maximum. And second, do try to read up about them
beforehand. Otherwise, the castles are but meaninglessly magnificent lumps
of monumental stonework. In truth, they thundered with real history, power
plays, sex and violence – which makes them fascinating, you’ll agree. The
world has no stately collection to rival the chateaux of the Loire.
The six I’d suggest are Chambord, the biggest and most bonkers, encapsulating
all the mad grandeur of France’s Renaissance self-image; Chenonceau, the
most romantic; Chinon, where our own Plantagenets ruled and died; Amboise,
and, more particularly, the nearby Clos Lucé dependence, now a splendid
tribute to Leonardo da Vinci, who ended his days there; Blois, the best
in-town chateau; and Valençay, the best decorated and furnished. You may
substitute Villandry or Chaumont if you’re a gardening person.
You must also enjoy the region for the reasons French royals came here in the
first place. Soft light illuminates a gentle landscape and limestone
villages. France’s greatest river idles powerfully past, focal point of
abundant fertility. Saumur is a horse-mad Loireside stunner.
Nearby are troglodyte settlements (Doué-la-Fontaine, Rochemenier, Turquant),
where underground culture meant precisely that.
