Though being in France for quite sometime, its countryside was left unexplored by us till now. Our first time in France was filled with travels to all the European nations around France and to the main sites in France from Paris, Normandy, Marseille to Lourdes. We were busy picking up all the touristy must see places for our itineraries. This time around, things took a surprisingly new turn. We did start of our tripping this time around by visiting places outside of France to countries we had left out the last time and would have continued doing so if it was not for a friend of my BH who asked him to join him on a small roadtrip outside of Paris by car. My BH had a long cherished dream of driving in Europe but had never got to do it. But when opportunity came calling, he just grabbed it by its tail to never let it go.
First Drive
Our first drive was through the Loire valley region stopping along first at the Beaumarchis park and then at a wine cellar and factory.
Loire valley is famous for its vineyards and wines, historic towns and cities with beautiful chateaux or castles, and its natural beauty. This region in central France is a short drive from Paris.
Our ride on this trip was a comfortable white hatchback. All baggage dumped, all seats filled, and all seat belts in check, we started our drive. My BH and DS were both excited for their own reasons. One eager to set new speeding records on European soil and the other wanting to try a different means of transport as he was bored of other vehicles like bus, train and flight.
After leaving behind the hustle bustle of Paris, you are treated in for a relaxed drive with the loire river besides you and beautiful towns and villages dotting the route with the sightings of a chateau here and there.
Our first site of visit on that day was the wildlife park at Autréche, Reserve Beaumarchais. This place is an hour’s journey from paris and closer to the Loire valley town of Amboise. This park has a collection of homebred game animals like the wild boar, stag, spotted deer, redbuck, sheep, nando, emu, ostrich and the bison. These are all placed in open fenced enclosures spread across 60 acres of land. The vegetation and terrain for each species has been created according to their natural habitats like the wild boars are placed in a woody region with many trees and clay like soil while the ungulates are placed in a grassland like area. A petit train takes you into the park and the driver cum guide stops at every enclosure and explains about the animals, their characteristics, their diet, their mating habits and also feeds them and gets them closer to the train. I also found out later that these very animals also become laid on a platter at the restaurant in the park. Which doesn’t seem fair on the animals but game meat is considered a delicacy here. But for those who dont want to taste these delicacies, there are picnic benches in the kids play area adjacent to the resident wallabies. So we had our packed lunches here.
The entire experience was enjoyable for our DS. He got upclose with some of the animals like the wallabies hopping around freely in the kids play area and a female stag that he got to pet. He was amazed to see the ostrich and bison as they looked exactly as in his book. Ever since the trip to the park, he makes me tell him about his trip to the deer park (as he calls it) as a story every night before sleep.
This park surely makes its way into my list of places to take a toddler and also to enjoy yourself.
Wine Making Tour
After a lovely time at the park we headed further into the Loire valley to Montlouis-sur-Loire. Here we visited the Montlouis cave des producteurs. An old quarry that was turned into a wine cellar and factory. A cave dug out at the bottom of this hill acts as the cellar for the wines of this region. Inside you get a self-guided tour of the cellar and factory with an audio-video tape with a free wine tasting at the end. The grapes grown in the vineyards of the fertile Loire valley with a traditional vinification method used in the natural cellar gives a distinct taste to the still and sparkling wines that are sold here. After the tour and the wine tasting we headed home with our own bottles of Montlouis with us.
We did try to visit one of the numerous chateaux on our way back but the cold weather made DS a bit uncomfortable so we remained in the car while our friends got a look at the castle with its night lights.
Points to take home
Region: Loire river valley
Distance: 236km from Paris
Time taken: Half a day to one day trip from Paris
Highs: A nice park for families, especially for kids. A wine cellar cave tour with free wine tasting.
For the Love of Travelling 