The Château de la Bourdaisière provides a truly magical setting in one of France’s most beguiling regions – the Loire Valley. Just like the hundreds of other renaissance châteaux scattered around this enormous World Heritage Site, it is an astonishingly beautiful work of architecture. As soon as you pass through the imposing front gate, the château suddenly appears through the trees like a fairytale fantasy, complete with soaring turrets and a grand entrance. Completely unspoiled, it is truly like taking a step back in time, transporting you back to the renaissance.
The building has a long history of romance and prestigious guests, having been built for Marie Gaudin, the mistress of Francois I, before becoming the favoured residence of Henri IV’s mistress. It is immediately apparent how much love and care have gone into the hotel’s 55 acres of parkland and gardens, which provide an enchanting setting for a few hours of bucolic exploration. A stroll around the grounds might take you through the orchard with over 100 varieties of fruit trees, or the ‘Dahliacolor’ garden with over 200 varieties of Dahlia, but no matter where you get to you are always surrounded by an explosion of colour and some delicious fragrances.
Perhaps the most notable feature of the gardens is the tomato conservatory, home to a unique collection of almost 650 varieties of tomato. Unsurprisingly, these feature quite heavily on the menu at the hotel’s restaurant, the Bar Tomates, along with plenty of other delicious produce from the vegetable garden. Besides the restaurant, the hotel features plenty of other amenities to treat guests to a luxurious stay befitting of the opulent château, including a tennis court and swimming pool in the grounds, which are an absolute delight on a sunny summer’s day. Meanwhile the bedrooms offer some traditional refinement, blending gorgeous garden views with some lovely French aristocratic style. This is typical of the décor throughout the hotel, elegantly traditional; with antique furnishings, luxurious fabrics and impressive paintings and tapestries on the walls.
Despite its peaceful and rural setting, the hotel is also just outside two delightful towns: Amboise, itself home to a dreamy royal château, and Tours, a medieval maze of half-timbered houses, elegant boulevards and shady riverside strolls. This is the perfect location to enjoy the old-fashioned, quintessential provincial France, and where better to start than in your very own château?