Experience

Staying at the Manoir des Roches

unusual, comfortable and relaxing.

The morning mist rising from the Cher below clears and the village, typical of the Loire Valley, is revealed as the sun rises. Opposite the mushroom farm where we can try the delicious ‘blue foot’, a small lane going up the ‘tuffeau’ hill leads us to Irina. She opens the gate and we discover her guest rooms nestled in a unique house: the Manoir des Roches. Our holiday in the Sud Val de Loire has begun!

After a welcome coffee around the wooden table in the large troglodyte dining room, my wife and I entered the bedroom which used to be an old attic. I immediately felt that this place was steeped in history. Indeed, the Manoir des Roches was built in 1548 and long served as a guardhouse on the way to Santiago de Compostela!

Irina enjoys sharing her passion for the Loire Valley with her guests. With her partner, Eric, they discovered the region in 2013. They wanted to find a unique place in this area they love. It took them 4 years of research to find it. This mansion was ideal for their project, where they could combine this love of old stones and the Loire Valley.

After months of work and meticulous development, three luxury rooms have been created, in different styles (including a troglodyte cave, accessible to people with reduced mobility), furnished and decorated with antiques found in the region.

Irina's other passions are gastronomy and wine.

She introduced us to some local wines and gave us many recommendations of things to do and see around these two themes.

Friendly and delicious meals

From the courtyard of the manor, a south-facing bay window facing south guided us to the dining room where we sat at a large table with the other guests. Irina prepared a local and organic meal for us that evening: as an aperitif, homemade petit fours with mushrooms and foie gras, asparagus as a starter, organic salmon accompanied by mashed potatoes with truffles as the main, followed by Selles-sur-Cher and Valençay cheeses, and for dessert, almond cake, Montrichard’s speciality.

The wines are also local, some very local! For example, the very good Touraine PDO red that we tasted during this meal.

The perfect location!

For our first day, we had planned to visit the ZooParc de Beauval. Irina prepared a delicious picnic for us in a beautiful wicker basket filled with local and handmade produce. We only had a 20 minute drive to get there, which was really convenient.

The next day, we had lunch in the medieval town of Montrichard, a few minutes away by car. And in the afternoon we had a leisurely visit at Clos-Lucé, the last home of Leonardo da Vinci.

We visited lots of places and did lots of walks during our stay, and there is still more to discover. We decided to come back next year with a couple of friends from Saint-Nazaire!

Romain, network engineer, 32, Nantes.

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