Despite its 282

Despite its 282 fireplaces,Chambord was so vast, it wasrarely warm in the castle.through augmented reality on a HistoPadtablet, also available at the Château deChambord. Commissioned by 16 th centuryKing François I as a party palace, this vastturreted castle was only furnished when themonarch arrived to host hunting parties andballs. Louis XIV stayed at Chambord in the 17 thcentury and today the Royal Apartments aredecorated in 18 th century style.Every Loire Valley Château, large and small,has its own USP. The Château de Cheverny,for instance, has always been occupied, soits ornate interior contains furnishings andcollectables from many different periods.More modest in size but thoroughly magicalwith its turrets and moat, the fairy tale castleof Azay-le-Rideau celebrates its 500 thanniversary this year with a programme ofexhibitions, illuminations and concerts.And the Renaissance exterior of Château deCandé hides an early 20 th century interiorcommissioned by American industrialistCharles-Eugène Bedaux. Stone balcony lookfamiliar? Wallis Simpson and the Duke ofWindsor married at Candé in 1937, posing forphotos at the top of the exterior stairs. Stepinside to visit the scene of this historic weddingand discover the secrets of Wallis’s wardrobe.Grand DesignsPerhaps inevitably, the largest propertiescluster around the capital, some built fromInside Wallis Simpson’swardrobe at the Château deCandé © Gillian Thorntonscratch, others the result of major remodellingacross the centuries. Some had royal owners,others imperial, whilst a few grand housespersonified the aspirations of upwardly mobileowners, such as Nicolas Fouquet, FinanceMinister to the young Louis XIV.Fouquet held a lavish party at his new home,Vaux le Vicomte, set in an extravagantlandscaped park south-east of Paris, but farfrom being impressed, his royal boss wasinsanely jealous. Fouquet was imprisoned onChâteau of Azay-le-RideauDining at Vaux-le-Vicomte –enough to make a king jealousfraud charges and Louis employed Fouquet’sarchitect and garden designer to build himsomething even better, the palace we nowknow as Versailles, west of the capital.The ‘Sun King’ commissioned an enormousStunning décor and furnishings at the Palace of Fontainbleaupalace and park, the ultimate in 17 th centurybling as befitted a style-obsessed court thatfollowed the monarch’s every whim. Anythingbut homely in atmosphere, it is neverthelessone of France’s must-see Châteaux. So too isthe Palace of Fontainebleau, a royal residencefrom the Middle Ages to the 19 th century.Renaissance king François 1 turned the town’smedieval castle into an Italianate royal palacethat became an Imperial palace after theRevolution and, in 1814, was the scene ofNapoleon 1’s abdication.North of Paris, the vast Château ofCompiegne also had a royal pedigree, built byLouis XV and Louis XVI, but remodelled underNapoleon I and Napoleon III. Visit the lavishapartments of the First and Second Empirethat contain many of the original furnishingsand imagine yourself as one of the 100 guestsinvited every autumn by Napoleon III for amonth of hunting, excursions and concerts.Further afieldThere are enough castles around Paris and theLoire to delight the most enthusiastic heritagefan, but every region has its own desirableproperties. Between Paris and la Loire, the26 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 27