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Loire
The châteaux of the Loire Valley are so magnificent that even the diehard leaders of the French Revolution could not bring themselves to order their destruction, settling instead for the theft of their furniture. Empty they may be, but the finest of the châteaux have an overwhelming grandeur, conjuring up images of their glorious history. The best are Chenonceaux, once the home of the royal mistress en titre, Diane de Poitiers, with its marvellous gallery spanning the River Cher; Blois, with its secret passages and murderous past; and Chambord, whose extraordinary double-helix staircase, where those going up never meet those coming down, may have been a flash of genius from Leonardo de Vinci. The Loire and its greatest châteaux lie within easy reach of the département of the Sarthe to the north, whose fertile countryside, with an abundance of hedges, is a reminder of how England used to be. Overlooking the River Sarthe itself, Le Mans, synonymous with the deafening 24-hour motor race that takes place each June, at any other time is an agreeably peaceful town with a well-preserved old quarter. The département of the Indre-et-Loire includes three delightful tributaries of the Loire: the Cher, the Indre and the Vienne, and three châteaux less spectacular in size but famed for their ambience and appearance: Chinon, Amboise and Azay-le-Rideau. Chinon gives its name to a superb red wine, which together with Bourgeuil and Vouvray, is among the best France has to offer. Just south of Tours is a less busy and very beautiful area, around the most impressive fortress town of Loches.
Vendée
In its heart the Vendée, wedged hard against the Atlantic coast, has never truly recognised the French Republic and asserts its independence at every opportunity, finding ponderous central state bureaucracy an easy target. From Nantes in the north, once the centre of the French slave trade, to La Rochelle in the south, once the focal point of Protestant resistance to Catholic kings, the Vendée is a quaint microcosm of people who have little time for Parisians or Paris. Even the roofs have a political message, abandoning the placid grey of the Loire for a rebellious red. Its visitors, too, will find that more often than not they are left to themselves, free to stride along its broad sandy beaches or to roam its hills with a host of turning windmills. Le Mont-des-Alouettes has three all to itself, almost more mills than men in a vast empty landscape. Puy Crapaud has turned its ruined windmill into a fashionable restaurant, with an uninterrupted view of the ocean far away. The best resorts are St Jean-de-Monts, La Tranche-sur-Mer and the vast empty sands of Les Sables-d'Olonne, where a beach restaurant really is on the beach. The weather in the southern part of the Vendée is an extraordinary micro-climate that for much of the year makes it almost as warm as the French Riviera. At the height of summer, temperatures above 30 degrees are the norm rather than the exception and in shallow waters the sea can be as comfortable as the Côte d'Azur. Atlantic winds provide ideal conditions for sailing and windsurfing while bronzed lifeguards ensure that it is safe to swim.
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