A road trip that’s chateau so good

because for us it had been TGI Monday!

Like the village of Lassay les Chateaux, where we have our holiday home, Parnesur-Roc was another of the little towns and villages in the Pays De La Loire region awarded the distinction of being named as ‘Petite Citiés Du Caractère’.

Our plan on this tour was to visit a selection of these delightful places, all of which are renowned for their heritage.

So it was that we drove on to picturesque Saulges, with its 11th Century Church of St Peter and famous Rochefort and Margot caves in the wooded limestone valley below.

Luckily, the patron of the hotel and restaurant opposite the church did not seem to mind that it was Monday so we dined on vegetable wraps with a salad garnish followed by a trio of fish at a table set out in the gardens under a shady tree.

That afternoon we visited Asnieres-sur-Vegre, whose church of St Hilaire has an outstanding collection of 16th Century wall paintings before moving on to the small town of Parce-sur-Sarthe for a pleasant walk along the shady banks of the River Sarthe.

Now, it was time to head further south to Thorigne de Anjou where we were booked for two nights at a lovely 1850s guest house set in its own mini-parkland on a tributary of the River Mayenne.

Our hosts – Laurence, an excellent cook and Serge, who grows all their own vegetables – could not have been more welcoming.

We dined al fresco in the charming company of a Belgian couple who were on a cycling holiday along the river.

Next we planned to make a petite fore into the Loire Valley but luckily we got side-tracked by visiting the magnificent Chateaux Serrant, whose survival intact through troubled times is largely due to two remarkable pieces of luck.

It escaped the ravages of the French Revolution because it had been acquired by the Walsh family of Irish Catholic descent.

Then, during the Second World War, it was taken over as a hotel for officers whose Wehrmacht Field Marshall made an extensive inventory of its possessions to prevent looting.

Ironically one guest also contributed to the chateaux’ heritage by painting a mural of Prussian officers on a wall in the servants’ quarters.