7th November

Bonjour! So I’ve put Tuesday night behind me, I’ve got my mojo back and I’m off to the Château de Maintenon! This was another place listed in the Daily Telegraph article. Situated in the 28th département, Eure-et-Loire, it is the former home of Madame de Maintenon who eventually became Louis XIV’s second wife. I am obviously a huge fan of all things French but I find the reign of Louis XIV, the sun king through to Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution particularly fascinating. I guess in the same way that, in English history, Henry VIII’s reign is fascinating. Turbulent times and questionable decisions made, but intriguing all the same.

Maintenon is in completely the opposite direction to everywhere else I’ve visited so far so it felt a bit more like an adventure again today and it was nice to see different villages etc on the way. It was a one and three quarter hours drive to get there but it was so worth it. It was still worth it after the girl on the ticket desk told me that most of the rooms were empty as they are preparing for their big Christmas event (I think a bit like they have at Chatsworth). Yes, I was a bit disappointed but heyhoe- and it only cost 3 euros to go in because there was so little on display.

I loved it! One of my favourite television programmes ever was “Versailles”. I used to bang on about it to everyone but it seemed that perhaps there was only me watching it! It was amazing! The costumes and the hairstyles and the jewellery, not to mention the intrigue and passion- and there were a lot of people getting naked too! My favourite character was Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and brother to Louis XIV. Played by the gorgeous Alexander Vlahos 🙂 I could just imagine all those characters at Château de Maintenon. Promenading in the gardens and whispering behind fans in the beautiful salon and gallery.

In a way it was nice that some of the rooms were empty because it allowed you to feel the whole space more, rather than be restricted by a rope barrier. I particularly enjoyed being able to get up close to the wallpapers. I took lots of photos and I’m hoping that I can print the images onto fabric, as I’ve done before, and make some lovely cushions for my next home- where ever that might be. A lovely momento of a fabulous time and place.

Madame de Maintenon had an interesting life. She was born Françoise d’Aubigne in 1635 in Niort prison, her father being a prisoner there at the time. At the age of 17, with no family and no money, and rather than going into a convent, she married a much older man. Her husband, Paul Scarron, died a few years later, leaving her again in financial straits and this is when she met Madame de Montespan who was, at the time, the favourite mistress of Louis XIV and with whom she was to have a total of eight children. Françoise became governess to Madame de Montespan’s illegitimate children in 1669 and she and the King became close. She bought the château de Maintenon in 1674 with monies given to her by the King and became Madame de Maintenon in 1680. She married Louis XIV in a secret ceremony in 1683, the same year that his first wife, Marie-Thérèse of Austria, died. Having no children of her own she bequeathed the château to her niece in 1698 and, after the King’s death in 1715, she retired to the Maison Royale of Saint-Louis in Saint-Cyr, a girls boarding school that she had established in 1685. She died there in 1719 aged 84 years.

The gardens at the château are so beautiful and I was very lucky to see them on such a fabulously sunny (but cold) autumn day. They are perfect. Symmetrical. Immaculate. The parterres are stunning- this, I discovered, being the term (from the French, par terre- on the ground) given to an ornamental garden which is best viewed from above.

I attempted to video the garden as I walked through it so the person watching the video would hopefully feel as if they too were walking the same path. I failed- and this is what I got……..

How awful is that?! Tom once said to me “never take a photo looking down, Jane. Always look up” I see why now. How many chins?! 🙂

I also took this video and, when I looked at it later, I saw this little light darting about on it, which I hadn’t seen at the time. I wonder if this is the spirit of Madame de Maintenon, still present at the château and dancing in the sunshine……..

A little far fetched I guess. But a nice though all the same 🙂

Building of the aqueduct started in 1683. Louis XIV wanted to bring water from the river Eure to the fountains of Versailles. It was never completed as in 1688 war broke out against the League of Augsburg and the King had to stop the build due to lack of resources. Even in it’s incomplete state though it is a beautiful structure. In fact perhaps even more so than had it been completed.

I literally could have stayed there forever just wandering and looking and taking another photograph from yet another angle. But it was getting very chilly so I went across the square from the château to a little café and had a hot chocolate and an apple tarte tatin with crème fraîche. Mm mm, yummy! Then I set off back to Vendôme. A long journey but a nice easy drive made all the better by listening to some lovely music.

Jan FaceTimed me tonight and we had a good old chat and I’ve booked to go to Orléans by train when I move to Tours, so am very excited about that 🙂

I’m missing having a poppy this year. Or “un coquelicot en papier”. In France people wear a “bleuet de France” a cornflower, which grew alongside poppies on the battle fields and is their symbol of commemoration and remembrance. “Les Bleuets” is also the nickname given to the young recruits who wore the new blue uniforms, which replaced the old red ones worn by French soldiers in the First World War, in 1917. The bleuet de France badges are sold on November 11 and May 8 every year so I must try and get one on Monday.