Sept Tours Chateau, Courcelles de Touraine

Bateaux Nantais offers cruises along the river Erdre or the river Loire on their modern and sleek boats. Particularly popular are their lunch or dinner cruises and their themed evenings.

Take in the magnificent scenery of the Loire by air in a hot air balloon. Offering a number of different tours and launch sites along the Loire river, what better way to take in the châteaux from up above where their size and splendour can really be seen.

Balloon Revolution offer flights over the Touraine region of the Loire Valley allowing you to discover its beautiful châteaux from the sky. Usually launching from the grounds of one of the châteaux, it's an unforgettable experience.

Located in the heart of the Sologne, this 27-hole club offers three courses; Sarcelles, Faisans and Chevreuils. You can do 9 holes, combine two courses to do a round of 18, or if you're feeling energetic, you can do all 27!

The golf course of the Château Cheverny has been constructed in the 142 hectares of the historic hunting grounds of the château.

This train dating from 1950s travels from Thoré to Trôo taking in troglodyte dwellings, Saint-Rimay tunnel, the town of Montoire and Varennes and more.

Young chef David Guitton gained worldwide training before taking on this restaurant in the grounds of the Domaine de la Bergarie winelands.

This wonderful restaurant run by Bernard Robin, the renowned chef, used to be a coaching house. Today is serves excellent traditional cuisine in a fine dining setting accompanied by an excellent wine selection. A top dining spot in the Loire with a Michelin star to match.

This small restaurant in Angers serves traditional French cuisine made with locally-sourced fresh market ingredients explained on the classic chalkboard menu.

This restaurant, translated as The Fisherman's Place, offers an excellent selection of predominantly fish dishes served with locally grown vegetables. Christophe Cosme has earned a Michelin star for his dishes in this small spot in Blois.

This excellent restaurant in Orléans serves traditional French fare using quality local produce.

This old post house dating from the 19th century has managed to retain a unique style where beams, bricks and tiles combine with modern comforts.

At the end of the 10th century Foulques Nerra conquered the site of Langeais and established a château on the promontory. All that remains of the original château are a few traces of the keep. During the second half of the 15th century, Langeais was considered a strategic site. Charles VII's son, Louis XI, therefore decided to build a château there in the face of hostilities from a group known as the League for the Public Weal; dissidents from the high aristocracy. Importantly in 1491, the château was the scene of the dawn wedding between Charles VIII (Louis XI's son) and Duchess Anne of Brittany. The marriage put an end to the strife between France and Anne's independent duchy and paved the way for Brittany eventually being incorporated formally into the French kingdom.

This 12th century château is located on the north bank of the Loire. Well maintained, and extravagantly decorated, it was owned by a close friend of Louis XIII, Charles d'Albert who became Constable of France. His family still live in this pretty grey château today.

Villandry was completed toward 1536 and was the last of the large châteaux built in the Loire Valley during the Renaissance. It was built by Jean le Breton, one of François I's finance ministers, whose coat of arms can be seen on the gable of the left-hand dormer window. Villandry stayed in the le Breton family until 1754 and then became the property of the Marquis de Castellane, the King's Ambassador, who came from an illustrious noble family from Provence. He built the Classical style outbuildings that you can see on either side of the front courtyard. He also redesigned the interior of the château to meet the standards of comfort of the 18th century. Its redesigned grounds include an impressive vegetable garden constructed in the early 20th century. A cook's delight, these vegetables are now available to buy in season.

This sleeping beauty château, overlooking the Indre river, is thought to have inspired the children's book written by Charles Perrault in the 17th century. Parts of the existing château date back to the 15th century - unfortunately all aspects from earlier dates have been destroyed. However, this picture-book Gothic château with some Italianate features is in immaculate condition. Its interior has been maintained in authentic style and it has a sumptuous king's chamber decorated in gold leaf, just in case a king happened to be passing and drop in!

Château de Lude, one of the great châteaux of the Loire Valley, stands at the crossroads of Anjou, Maine and Touraine. The original fortress was built between the 10th and 11th centuries on the banks of the river Loir, in order to defend Anjou from the incursions of the Normans and then the English during the Hundred Years' War. Louis XI's chamberlain, Jehan de Daillon, took possession of the Lude estates at the end of the 15th century. He transformed the fortress into an elegant pleasure palace, which his descendants embellished over two centuries - they added the Renaissance façade in its Italian style and the main courtyard with its marble plaques. The richness and variety of the styles that characterise the Château du Lude are echoed in the interior decoration and furniture. Since the 17th century, the old stronghold surrounded by its wide moat meets an elegant terrace edged by a stone balustrade over 200 metres in length.

Founded in the 11th century, this priory has long been a place where pilgrims took shelter en route to Santiago de Compostela. In the 16th century Pierre de Ronsard, the French Renaissance poet, became the prior - the priory still features the prior's house with de Ronsard's workroom. The rose gardens pay an appropriate homage to the poet who is buried in the church apse.