A French Road Trip
“Rooaaad Triiiip!” My husband’s favourite catch-cry is often met with eye rolls from our millennial offspring. Despite misgivings, all road trips we have taken as a family in Australia have been truly memorable and great fun.
I am hesitant to attempt a road trip as a couple in France in early September with no accommodation booked in advance. As my husband also likes to say: “what could possibly go wrong?”
As a ‘be prepared’ kind of girl, this was way outside my comfort zone. Coming around to hubby’s idea though, I armed myself with a copy of ‘The Official Guide to the Most Beautiful Villages of France’ – Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, so we could at least have a rough plan starting from Paris and finishing in Beaune to meet friends for 50th birthday celebrations.
The annual guide showcases more than 150 French villages. To be included the villages must meet strict criteria – have less than 2000 inhabitants, have two protected sites or monuments, and the application must be supported by most residents in the village. Given these guidelines, membership is quite prestigious, and the villages must maintain and promote their towns to the association standards.
The beauty of this guide is that it covers all the administrative regions and new départements of France. For each village, the guide contains a basic description, brief history, highlights, accommodation and restaurant options, a listing of local specialities, a brief calendar of events, as well as outdoor activities and other close by sights. Additionally, there is a ‘Did you know’ box to give a quirky piece of information or unusual history on the village.
As our trip was time and destination dependent, we had a rough road map in mind, but no accommodation booked. Thanks to the guide and the internet, hubby did the driving and I did the searching.
Our first official village was Yèvre-le-Châtel on the way to Orlèans, where a chateau built in the 13th century has commanding views of the expansive Loire valley from the ancient ramparts, reached by a narrow stone spiral staircase.
Detouring via two chateau of the Loire valley – Château de Chambord and Château de Chenonceau – we aimed for our next village of Angles-sur-l’Anglin– famous for its fine lace embroidery.
A brief visit to Saint-Benoît-du-Sault where houses from the 15th and 16th century line the narrow, steep streets, many displaying medieval jettying protrude from the upper floors.
Did you know?
Jettying is the process of constructing overhanging upper floors. This increased the amount of usable space without enlarging a house’s footprint, which is how taxes were calculated in medieval times.
Driving through the French countryside is not all French provincial style and beauty. This is rural, working France, where often a collection of windowless houses built up to the roadways indicated the existence of a local commune – where the farmers and their families live. No shops, nowhere to eat. Passing tractors are covered in the soil of the fields they plough.
Our favourite village of this road trip is undoubtedly Apremont-sur-Allier. Sitting on the Allier river and dominated by the privately owned Chateau d’Apremont, the chateau is surrounded by expansive and stunning floral gardens inspired by Sissinghurst in the UK, filled to the brim with an array of colour, perfume and structure, as well as some typical 18th whimsy. A Pagoda bridge crosses the water, a Turkish pavilion sits on the lake and a Russian inspired Belvedere sits at a high point on the manicured lawns.
Surmounted by the UNESCO-listed Basilica of Sainte-Madeleine, the village of Vézelay consists of steep cobblestone streets leading to this magnificent 12th century church. Believed to hold relics of Mary Magdalen herself, the village attracts visitors from around the world paying homage to her in the Basilica.
A short drive from Beaune is Châteuneuf-an-Auxois, where the chateau itself sits uncharacteristically on the outer perimeter of the village. Built to keep watch on the road below in the late 12th century, the chateau has well preserved elements from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, including a central courtyard with well-worn stone underfoot.
Our road trip concludes as we meet good friends in Beaune, and most importantly our relationship has survived. I like to think in part because of the experiences along the way – the villages we have visited imparted a sense of calm and cliched old world charm, creating a sense of inner peace in ourselves and that wonderful feeling of truly being immersed in another world.
Would you do a road trip through France? Let me know in the comments below.
The Official Guide to the Most Beautiful Villages of France. English edition published in 2016 by Flammarion
I would love to do a road trip through France. It looks absolutely beautiful! Thanks for the tips 🙂
Thanks Jodie! Sorry for the delay in responding – hope the tips are helpful one day!