Château de Langeais

The Château de Langeais is one of the most unusual castles of the Loire, because it looks like a fortress from the street and a comfortable house from the courtyard. Louis XI had it built in the 1460s to guard the river, and it shows: thick walls, a drawbridge, machicolated towers and a grim face to the town. Behind the walls the mood changes, and the inner court has large windows and a more elegant look. Inside, the rooms are furnished with a fine collection of medieval and Renaissance pieces, including tapestries, carved chests, beds and fireplaces that were gathered by the nineteenth-century owner Jacques Siegfried, who left the château to the Institut de France. Langeais also tells a famous love story: in 1491 Charles VIII married Anne of Brittany here, in a ceremony that brought Brittany into the French crown. Wax figures stage the wedding in the great hall. In the park behind the château stand the ruins of a keep dating from around the end of the tenth century, usually described as the oldest surviving stone keep in France, built for Foulques Nerra. Langeais is a small town about twenty-five kilometres west of Tours, with a station, so it is one of the easier châteaux to reach without a car and a fine half-day outing.

Begin with the exterior, because it is the most striking part. Walk along the front and look up at the towers and the crenellations, then cross the drawbridge and look back at how severe the front appears against the plain stone of the town. Inside, the staircases and rooms are arranged to show how a noble household of the late fifteenth century lived, with brightly coloured wall hangings, large fireplaces and a fine set of tapestries.

Take time in the great hall, where the wedding of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany is staged and gives the visit its emotional focus.

The park is a pleasure in its own right. A gravel path leads from the château to the ruins of the old keep, a low and weathered fragment of tenth-century stonework, and from there you can look back at the château and over the Loire valley. The grounds also hold a small garden, with a view down towards the river Plan a half hour here, more if the weather is fine.

Langeais is easy to combine with Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau on a day built around the western Touraine, and with Ussé if you have a car. Allow about two hours at the château, plus time in the town for lunch. Trains from Tours serve Langeais, which makes it one of the better options for travellers without a car. The château keeps shorter hours in low season, so check the calendar for your date before you go.

Wear layers, since the stone rooms are cool, and plan to arrive at opening for the quietest visit. If the weather turns, the interior alone is enough for a rewarding visit, and the town has bakeries and cafés for a warming stop before the train back to Tours.