Long before it reaches the photogenic limestone castles, vineyards and biking paths of Valley of the Kings, the Loire River bubbles up from the remote Ardèche region in southern France. From there it streams north, gathering strength in a region simply called Loire as it proceeds on its 625 miles flow toward the Atlantic.
Corinne LaBalme left the high-end northern real estate of the Loire Valley far behind when she trained down from Paris to the rust-belt town of Saint-Etienne, Loire’s capital. She then started an off-track journey to a château that hosts a family-friendly classical music and dance festival and discovered some of the region’s rural and natural delights along the way.
The Château: La Bâtie d’Urfé
King François I, the patron of Leonardo da Vinci, appointed his close friend Charles d’Urfé, Bailiff of the Forez region, to represent the crown at the Council of Trent in 1545. Quite like his king, Charles came down with a severe case of Renaissance Fever while in Italy. On his return to the Loire region, he embarked on an enthusiastic makeover of the family estate that channeled the intellectual, humanist ethos of the age into stone and stucco.
Creating this unique Franco-Italian Renaissance château, which included a 4,600-book library protected by a benevolent sphinx statue, effectively bankrupted his family. His descendants sold off everything that wasn’t nailed down and certainly did not have the cash for extensive remodeling.
That’s why the Bâtie d’Urfé in Saint-Etienne-le-Molard has the only surviving 16th century grotto in France (detail at top of article). These rustic stone structures, decorated with rocaille (seashell-and-gravel mosaics) were trendy décor musts in the era. Given that they are so sturdy, it’s rather surprising that more of them haven’t stood the test of time. But trends being what they are, the noble grotto faded from fashion as the French garden took shape.
This one, renovated in 2008, would have been remarkable in any case. Charles d’Urfé was a staunch Catholic who was nevertheless imbued with the ecumenical, open-minded spirit of the age. His grotto, which leads to the family chapel, is decorated with pre-Christian iconography. Neptune, for instance, is treated with the greatest of esteem.
The chapel’s theme is the Holy Communion. As the point is made with Old Testament scenes, the golden captions to the artwork are respectfully written in Hebrew. The elegant chapel bore the brunt of the family’s garage sales, but an enterprising local historical/archeological society, La Diana, tracked down many of the chapel’s missing parts and restored/replaced them as needed. (More about La Diana below.) Don’t forget to look up at the ceiling vaults, daringly decorated with exotic New World vegetables like corn.
Speaking of food, there’s a delightful locovore restaurant (with outdoor and indoor tables) on the premises, offering a budget friendly prix-fixe meal to which you might add a bottle of the easy-drinking local chardonnay Clos de Chozieux.
The Festival: Estival de la Bâtie
“We don’t want people to feel afraid of classical music,” says pianist/composer Pascal Amoyal, one of the two guardian angels of this low-key, eight-year-old festival. The festival will be held on the grounds of the château from July 5 to 22 this year. The engagingly ambitious program includes an updated concert version of The Enchanted Flute (sung in French), pioneering Flamenco artist Rocio Marquez, Algerian composer/guitarist Souad Massi, and the opening night Berlioz/Ravel/Dvorak concert by the OSE ! Symphonic Orchestra.
Circus acts, puppet shows and games aimed at children and their parents are scheduled for weekend afternoons in the castle’s gardens throughout the festival.
As a side-note, the austerely symmetrical Renaissance gardens inspired Claude’s grandson, Honoré d’Urfé (1568-1625) to write the 5,000-page love story, Astrée, a best-seller of the day that’s arguably credited as the first French novel.
The Historical Society: La Diana
The Bâtie d’Urfé would have fallen into ruin if not for the dedication of the local historical society, La Diana, based in the nearby medieval town of Montbrison. Montbrison, population 17,000, boasts 18 listed monuments, and fittingly the rarest and most unusual of these, an early 14th-century vaulted heraldic ceiling, is located in La Diana’s headquarters.
Roughly 1,700 emblems of the local nobility are painted on separate wooden panels. These served as the who’s who of the time and no fortified town in the Middle Ages would have been complete without its salle héraldique presenting the coat of arms of feudal families.
Fires, floods, termites and fashion often decimated these once-ubiquitous wooden tributes to the status quo. (Viollet-le-Duc’s heavily-restored version at the Château de Pierrefonds north of Paris is the closest that most architecture fans have ever come to seeing one.) Miraculously, the Montbrison ceiling at La Diana survived intact with its original paintwork, despite the room’s post-revolutionary incarnation as a livery stable. It’s open to the public on Wednesday and Saturday.
Ever the historical detectives, La Diana has traced a few precious, missing elements of the Bâtie d’Urfé chapel to the Metropolitan Museum in New York. They would very much like them back. If you have any Met connections…
And if you’re stopping in a bistro for a snack, don’t forget to order some fourme de Montbrison, the local blue-veined cow cheese.
Nature Walks
While it’s not necessary to go all Dr. Livingston and track the Loire to its source (unless you’d like to visit a 1950s hydro-electric dam along the way), the southern Loire offers spectacular scenery thanks to an 877-acre nature reserve with plentiful hiking trails.
The park is noted for its birds of prey, playful otters and rare dragonflies. Several of the prettiest, two- and three-hour hikes start out at the Maison de la Réserve Naturelle Régionale des gorges de la Loire in Saint-Victor-sur-Loire, a fortified medieval village located ten kilometers from Saint-Etienne. An alternate way to view these unspoiled river canyons and wooded Forez hills is on a lunchtime cruise. https://croisieres-gorges-loire.fr
Saint-Victor also has a man-made surprise: a charming granite chapel. The chapel boasts a 17th-century altar made of gilded wood and Cordoba leather, possibly the only surviving altar of this type north of the Pyrenees.
Lodging and Food
The Romans came to Saint-Galmier for the thermal baths, and the sparkling water that still gushes from the earth here is marketed across the world in forest-green Badoit bottles. Today it makes a fine home-base for exploring the area.
The 4-star Hôtel La Charpinière proves how reasonably priced a fine stay in the French countryside can be. With double rooms under 150€, guests profit from a swimming pool, a beauty spa, a well-equipped gym with personal trainers, and two restaurants. The “gourmet” dining room features foie gras with rhubarb and fish with wasabi sauce but given that this is cow-country, the aged steaks and country fries in the brasserie may be even more tempting. Specify one of the spacious “Privilège” rooms (e.g. room 215) with walk-in Italian showers and king-size beds when booking.
It’s only a short hike to the center of town where, across from a small white stucco casino, Xavier Thély runs the Amphitryon restaurant. Try the surprisingly delicate foie gras/lentil appetizer and don’t miss the strawberry tart with pistachio cream and a bright hint of lime.
Hôtel La Charpinière, 8 allée de la Charpinière, 42330 Saint-Galmier. Tel: 04 77 52 75 00.
L’Amphitryon, 9 blvd Gabriel Cousin, 42330 Saint-Galmier. Tel: 04 77 56 33 39. Closed Sunday and Monday.
See the official tourist site of Loire for further information about this region.
© Corinne LaBalme, 2018.