Cheverny surprises with our best day in the Loire

It was a another delightful demonstration of serendipity in travel.

Despite research, guide books and expectations, the best outing of our Loire holiday had not featured in our plans. It included a lesser-known chateau that rejected the Renaissance template of the region, a wine appellation we'd never heard of and a restaurant we defaulted to when finding our recommended target closed. Add a fantastic gift shop filled with the work of local craftspeople and some fine dogs. Cheverny, we loved you.

Our initial objective was the wine. We were in search of good quality whites to replace the Chablis we'd laid down after a Burgundian trip five years ago, now almost finished. Loire wines are worth your attention, but their marketing needs help. We were expecting to find the kind of consolidated regional tasting room, now so common in major wine regions, where we could get a sense of different appellations and makers before heading to their vineyards to buy. Tours, the regional capital, is sadly lacking in any such facility. (The closest we could find was a shop called Les Belles Caves, good advice and regional selection, but no tasting.) Nor had we found them on our tasting days in Saumur or Bourgueil. And then, wonderfully, we discovered that the growers in Cheverny had created such a place to market their wines.

Maison des Vins de Cheverny
The shop sits just outside the entrance to the Chateau. While the agricultural building housing it is old, the interiors are modern and efficient. Buy a chip-enabled glass and help yourself to the number of tastings for which you've charged the chip. Large pillars covered with protruding spigots, labels and tasting notes offer self-service browsing and tasting for the region's reds, whites and roses. You'll also find a range of "wines of the day" on offer for free tastings, and a knowledgeable shop manager who can guide your tasting choices. A large warehouse behind the shop means you can buy anything you taste and like.

It was here we discovered the separate appellation of Cour-Cheverny, just next door but of ... to our taste ... superior quality. Evidently the locals think so, too, as little of it is exported. The whites are a single variety wine, pressed from Romoratin grapes that are only grown here. Pale yellow with fresh fruit notes, Cour-Cheverny develops honey, lemon and beeswax notes with age.

Just next door is a marvelous shop showcasing the work of craftspeople throughout the area. Jewellery, calligraphy, sculpture, corn weaving, jams and preserves, watercolours, etc. I could have spent a fortune there, but limited myself to the work of a glassblower. Three of his hand-crafted flowers now provide a sculptural element to my pond, for less than half the price of similar pieces I've seen in England.

A distinctive chateau
There are four reasons the chateau next door is unique in the Loire. Not only is it still in private
ownership, but the same family has been here since they built it (with the exception of a 22-year exile after the revolution). This makes Cheverny much more like an English stately home, with layers of change and experience building comfortably ... rather than the typical Loire chateau that's been re-created in the last century like a stage set. Second, the gracious yet imposing house is built in Louis XIII style, with an exterior of clean lines and pale neoclassicism two centuries removed from most of the Loire chateaux. It is a delight to see something different. Most visitors, however, will tell you that Cheverny's USP ("unique selling proposition") is its dogs. There's a long tradition of hunting here. I first learned of Cheverny after the British hunting-with-dogs ban, when articles cited it as a place English riders could still go for traditional sport. More than a hundred tri-coloured hounds, a cross between English fox hounds and the French poitevans, live in beautiful 19th century kennels. You can visit at any time and see them at rest in their yard, though the well-prepared will arrive in time for the 11:30 daily feeding. Finally, children who are fans of Tantin will enjoy the museum here; the chateau is the model for Marlinspike Hall, a location that features prominently in the series.

The interiors are far more lavish than the somewhat austere facade would lead you to expect. You can't totally escape those Loire renaissance traditions: there's a dining room and a weapons-draped great hall here that are 19th century interpretations of the style. Lavish rooms like the tapestry swaddled royal bedchamber hint at the opulence that presaged the revolution. Gold-gilt, geegaw-cluttered 19th century drawing rooms show off the family showing off after the restoration of the old order. And yet there are intimate spaces, too, such as a soothing family dining room with a copper-pan lined servery off one side, and a nursery cluttered with toys old and new ... including Lego versions of the hounds. Don't miss climbing to the top of the main stairs for the family chapel tucked cleverly into the summit of the house's roof line.

At the back of the chateau ... note how this side is actually a different style than the front ... there are some lovely gardens to wander in and an orangery now used as a restaurant. The wider grounds offer lawns, specimen trees and woodland. Plenty of room for a day's ramble.

Restaurant St. Hubert
If you're in the mood for a good lunch instead, you can re-direct that walk along the main road to Cour-Cheverny. In addition to being a separate wine appellation, it's also its own village, just at the end of the Cheverny estate walls. Just over a kilometer from the chateau car park, down the main road (the D102), you'll find the Logis Hotel St. Hubert. There's a car park if you don't feel like the stroll.

We were a bit hesitant when we arrived. The decor is very 1980s. With only two other tables full, and simple menus slipped into battered faux-leather covers that had seen better days, the hotel restaurant had the feel of a pokey backwater bolted on because the place needed a breakfast room. I almost expected a comedy waiter to arrive, given how Fawlty Towers it all felt.

Instead, we got an efficient and rather grim local who reprimanded us in a classically French fashion when we dared to ask about a
wine on the list from a different region of the Loire. (We couldn't help it, we'd never seen a red Menetou Salon and were curious.) Actually, I appreciate the enthusiasm. "You are in Cour-Cheverny, monsieur! Why would you drink anything from beyond?" He was right, directing us to tasty reds and whites, and he eventually warmed up as he realised how much we enjoyed both our food and wine.

Because, contrary to all expectations, this was one of the best meals of our trip. It was a triumph of classic French country cooking at its best: a hearty, chunky rabbit terrine with fresh bread; a succulent, rare sirloin of Chinon beef with creamy potatoes and roast bone marrow; the thickest tarte tatin I've ever seen, with a taste as lofty as its height. The 2014 Cheverny red we drank with the steak, from Domaine le Portail, is the "wine that got away" on this trip. The wine shop was sold out and we didn't have time to continue on to the vineyard. We will hunt for this 70% Pinot 30% Gamay back in the UK. Exactly the light yet balanced, fruity yet sophisticated red my husband was seeking to temper my predilection for smack-you-upside the head Malbecs.

St. Hubert, we learned, is the patron saint of hunters. We're delighted he directed our food and wine pursuit to his eponymous establishment.