The "falun" or soft shellstone found in the Loire valley lends itself to troglodyte dwellings – homes carved out of rocky outcrops, of which there are more in this area (between Saumur and Angers) than anywhere else in France. It's reckoned that in the twelfth century half the local population lived in homes carved out of the rock. Today, some of the rock dwellings have surprising uses, along with the more predictable "Troglo" bars and restaurants.Away from the Loire cliffs on the plains to the south, troglodyte villages were built by digging holes like large craters and then carving out the walls. The best example is at ROCHEMENIER, northwest of Doué-la-Fontaine and about 20km west of Saumur, where an underground village housed a small farming community with its own underground chapel (daily: April–Nov 9.30am–7pm; Feb & March Sat & Sun 2–6pm; closed Dec & Jan; €4), and was only abandoned in the 1930s. The visit includes a typical troglodyte dwelling, along with a museum of domestic items, including wine and oil presses. Just 3km north, at DÉNEZÉ-SOUS-DOUÉ, there are underground carvings thought to have been sculpted by a secret sixteenth-century sect of libertarians. The cartoon-style figures mock religion, morality, the state and the ruling class, with scenes of sex, strange deformities and perverted Christian imagery (Tues–Sun: April & May 2–6pm; June–Aug 10am–7pm; Sept 10am–6pm; €3.80). The marvellous Zoo de Doué on the D960 to Cholet, 2km southwest of Doué-la-Fontaine (daily: April–Sept 9am–7pm; Oct–March 10am–6pm; €11.50) has been established in one of the region's complexes of quarried caverns. The natural setting has been used to full advantage, with a waterfall flowing through a kind of lost Eden canyon, with various big cats roaming among the bamboo thickets, and a dark and steamy vivarium, formerly a cave dwelling but now home to pythons, anacondas and the like. At PARNAY, about 7km upstream from Saumur on the south bank of the Loire, you can taste and buy sparkling and red Saumur-Champigny wines from the troglodyte caves of the Château du Marconnay, 75 rte de Saumur (April to mid-Nov Tues–Sat 9.30am–6.30pm, Sun 2–6pm; mid-Nov to March call 02.41.51.46.89; €4). Further on, just before Turquant, in LE VAL-HULIN, are the last producers of the once common Saumurois dried whole apples, known as pommes tapées – each apple, after drying, is given a little expert tap to make it a more amenable shape for bottle storage. You can tour one of the workshops at Le Troglo des Pommes Tapées (July &Aug daily 2.30–6pm, Sept–June Sat & Sun 2.30–6pm; €4.60), where you're taken through the apple drying and tapping process, before rounding off the visit with a tasting.
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