The most notable feature of this castle was the gardens. There are several kinds, an ornamental garden, a vegetable garden, an herb garden, a sun garden, and a water garden.

The vegetable garden, or kitchen garden, is made up of nine similarly sized squares but with different geometric patterns. These squares are planted with vegetables of alternating colors to give the illusion of a multicolored chessboard. Kitchen gardens actually date back to the Middle Ages, where monks would lay out their gardens in geometric shapes, usually a cross. Then along came the Italians who gave the monastic kitchen garden some ornamental features such as fountains, trees, and square flower beds. During the French Renaissance the two gardens were combined to make the garden they needed for the roses and vegetables, and voila, the decorative kitchen garden was born. In the photo below you can see the ornamental garden in the foreground, the kitchen garden directly behind it, and the sun garden to the left. I have to say I was inspired after seeing these gardens but don’t expect much of our garden next summer 😉

I’ll let you in on a little secret. We took our picnic lunch in the castle gardens. When we bought the tickets, the clerk asked if she could see inside the Kathrin’s bag; we assumed to check for dangerous items. As Kathrin held it out, she asked if we had a picnic in it.  Kathrin quickly said no, which satisfied the woman. After walking around and admiring the gardens, we found a bench in a quiet corner in an upper-level garden to enjoy our picnic lunch in secret. 

With a full stomach, we jumped back on our bikes to continue on to Chinon. After an hour of biking along our merry way, we looked over to the left and noticed another Château, Château d’Usse. It’s an impressive castle. In fact, its beauty inspired Charles Perrault to write the fairytale Sleeping Beauty. This is one of the few chateaux in the Loire Valley that is still privately owned. 

As we traveled further west towards Chinon, I noticed a slow shift in the architecture. Limestone became the predominant building material. We still saw some timber-framed houses, but they were not as plentiful as in Tours, Amboise, and the other towns we had seen. The limestone of the Loire Valley region is called Tuffeau. Eventually, we came to a rest stop that had a memorial to the Tuffeau workers of the area. 

Chinon is actually on the Vienne River, about 6 miles/10km from where it joins the Loire. This made Chinon a very strategic town since the Middle Ages. However, Chinon’s major claim to fame came in 1429 when King Charles VII assembled the Estates General and Joan of Arc prevailed upon him to give her an army so she could liberate Orleans from the British siege. 

History lesson aside, Chinon has a lovely blend of old and new. The ancient buildings have been refurbished and now are the homes of bakeries, boutique stores, etc. It was a pleasant ride through the town. The next morning we planned on visiting the castle before leaving town. Kathrin found an elevator on Google Maps that takes people and bikes up most of the hill to make traveling there easier. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the elevator, so we ended up going up a very steep street. Thank God for e-bikes! Once we made it to the castle, the gate was closed. We were too early. Oh well, we had a schedule. On the way back down the hill, we found the elevator 😆 bad timing, but we took it anyway.