First some practical links & information:

•   Our exact position on the fabulous viamichelin.com map >>>
•   The weather in the area today (from the France 2 website) >>>

If you're coming by train from Paris, you need to buy a TGV ticket for Angers (Gare Angers St Laud). You can either catch the train from the Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport railway station,
or (if you're landing at Beauvais or Orly) from the Montparnasse station in the middle of Paris.

It is also possible to fly with Ryanair via Stanstead in England to Poitiers, but we have not checked this out yet.

The local buses are few (actually there's only one leaving from Angers to Vihiers per day at 4 PM something), but it's possible to rent a car just a couple of hundred metres from the railway station, or you can take a taxi (don't know what that will cost, it's about 50 minutes drive to our house), or call and we'll pick you up. (Our French phone number is: (+33) (0)5-49 80 14 96. If you're dialling from a phone outside France, the "0" after the country number should be dropped. If you dial from a French phone, you need to include that "0".)

Loire Links
The Loire valley is packed with history. Joan of Arch fought here, Richard Lionheart died here. Eleanor of Aquitaine also rests here. There are approximately 6,000 castles in the region, troglodyte dwellings, wine, fishing history, - you name it. Here are some links to places we have discovered so far:

• Chemins de la Rose - the largest variety of roses in the entire France
• Château de Brissac - the tallest castle in the Loire vallery
• The Royal Abbay of Fontevraud - both Eleanor of Acquitaine and Richard Lionheart rests here
• Le Dolmen de Bagneux (in Saumur) - the biggest dolmen in Europe !