Château des Basses Roches

My wife and I were our way to Paris and wanted to spend a couple of days visiting some of the numerous castles in the Loire Valley. In keeping with the chateau theme, we decided to stay the night in one of them. It ended up being a wonderful experience! Chateau des Basses Roches is located in La Chaussee-Saint-Victor, which is really just a suburb of Blois. It is very close to the main roads and access is easy once you know where you're going. GPS devices will try and get you to take the Ruelle des Basses Roches, which I don't think even our little Peugeot 208 would have fit down. Luckily, Catherine (the owner) had emailed me earlier and advised us to come by the Rue du Stade, which made getting there very simple. Speaking of Catherine, she was very communicative and extremely friendly. When we ran a little late on the day of our arrival, she was very accommodating and made sure there was someone there to check us in when we arrived. The following morning she made sure breakfast was ready when we wanted it, including some fresh local strawberries that really started our day off right! The chateau itself is a really cool building. Half of it is guest rooms and the other half is where Catherine and her family live, so it has a very different feeling from your standard chain hotel. The rooms have been completely renovated and are very clean and modern. We stayed in "La Gabare" and it was wonderful. The bed was extremely comfortable and we had a fantastic sleep. We did need to watch our heads a bit as my wife and I are both over 6 feet tall and the slope of the roof made it so there were a few places in the room where we couldn't stand up straight. All part of the charm of staying in a building that is several hundred years old! Catherine shared a bit of the chateau's history with us over breakfast, and there is a photo album in the reception area that documents the process they went through renovating the place. Take a look because it is amazing what they have accomplished! Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the grounds or the adjoining park, but the area is beautiful and features some gigantic trees, including a massive sequoia in the front yard! Catherine rents bikes for those who want to get out for a ride along the river, and next time we will definitely plan for that. We had a fantastic stay at Chateau des Basses Roches and our only regret is that it was only for one night. Next time we will plan to stay much longer!