Montrichard and Bourré
France > Loire > Cher > Montrichard
In many ways just a laid-back market town, MONTRICHARD also happens to have a full complement of medieval and Renaissance buildings, plus a hilltop fortress, of which just the keep remains after Henri IV broke down the rest of the defences. Between mid-July and mid-August costumed medieval spectacles (daily at 2.30pm & 4.30pm) entertain mostly children, but you can always climb up for the view of the Cher, past the lovingly tended but rather dull town museum (May–Sept daily 10am–noon & 2–6pm; March & April Sat & Sun only; €5). Montrichard's Romanesque church was where the disabled 12-year-old princess, Jeanne de Valois, who would never be able to have children, married her cousin the Duc d'Orléans, who subsequently became King Louis XII after the unlikely death of Charles VIII at Amboise. Politics dictated that he marry Charles VIII's widow, Anne of Brittany, so poor Jeanne was divorced and sent off to govern Bourges, where she founded a new religious order and eventually took the veil herself.In summer, canoes and kayaks can be hired (tel 02.54.32.11.84) at the pleasant artificial beach on the opposite bank of the Cher – a good place to swim – and it's possible to paddle as far as Chenonceau, 7km downstream. Three kilometres to the east of Montrichard, the hills around BOURRÉ are riddled with enormous, cave-like quarries, dug deep to get at the famous château-building stone that gets whiter as it weathers. Some of the caves are now used to cultivate mushrooms – big business in the Loire – a peculiar process that you can witness at the Caves Champignonnières, 40 rte des Roches (guided visits daily March–June & Sept at 10am, 11am & hourly 2–5pm; July & Aug also 1pm & 6pm; Oct & Nov 11am, 3pm & 4pm; €5.50). A second tour takes you to a "subterranean city" sculpted in recent years as a tourist attraction, and there's an excellent shop including rare varieties of mushroom and various mushroom products. At the bottom of the hill, you can visit the troglodyte houses and seventeenth-century silkworm-breeding farm deep in the caves at La Magnanerie, 4 chemin de la Croix-Bardin (April–Sept guided tours Mon & Thurs–Sun at 11am, 3pm, 4pm & 5pm; €3.20).
Pages in section ‘Montrichard’: Practicalities.
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