There has been a chateau on the site since the 13th or 14th century, but the current Chateau de Chambord, which is the largest chateau in the Loire Valley, was built in 1524-1547 as a hunting lodge for the king, François III. Leonardo da Vinci visited the site in 1516 and there are drawings of a similar building in his notebooks, so it is thought that he may have had some input into the design, although Leonardo died in the year that building started. The current chateau has been abandoned and restored several times. The last renovation took place in the 1950s and the chateau is now owned by the French state.
One of the exterior staircases linking the various levels
One of the terraces
The village of Chambord from one of the terraces
Some of the towers and below, a panorama, both from the terrace.
One of many similar carvings of the king's monogram together with the salamander of Francois 1, on the second floor.
The grand staircase.
After lunch, we moved on to the Chateau de Cheverny, which was built in 1624-1630 and is still owned by the same family, some of whom live there. It was opened to the public 100 years ago in 2014. It is smaller than Chambord and rather easier to get around.
A detail from over the door
The formal dining room
The nursery
The family dining room
The petit salon
The armory is the largest room in the chateau.
The grand salon
The music room
Outside, and divided from the main house by an attractive section of garden is the orangery, originally used for overwintering trees, etc, it was used for the storage of art during the Second World War and it is said that the Mona Lisa was kept there. Now it is a tea room.
Close to the house there is a large kennel which houses 70-90 hunting hounds. When we visited the dogs were high up and making a lot of noise, while their lower space was being cleaned.
The trophy room was close by.
The last stop on our visit was the kitchen garden, where flowers and vegetables for the house are grown.
