"Magnificent medieval castle. " a Fougères-sur-Bièvre Travel Page by Beausoleil

We set off one morning for Cheverny and were driving peacefully along the D52 in the rural Loire countryside. We drove into Fougeres-sur-Bievre noting it was a very clean village until we were stopped at the lone traffic light and happened to look to our right. Whoa! A magnificent castle and we'd never heard of it.

Needless to say, we quickly found a parking place so we could explore. Fougeres is, indeed, one of the neatest, cleanest little villages we've ever seen. We had to wait about a half hour until the chateau opened so we visited nearby St. Eloi Church and took pictures.

When opening hour arrived, we went to the ticket booth and it wasn't open but the chateau was so we entered thinking we could pay inside. We were followed by a cute kitty who accompanied us throughout the castle, a watch cat?!

The chateau is set up as a "children's chateau" which means it has educational exhibits and programs. There were exhibits made by children that were fun and since Hallowe'en was near, there were the requisite castle ghosts floating in the rafters.

We toured the entire quite large chateau and never did find the ticket office. Went back outside still accompanied by the kitty and toured the grounds where there is an aviary and some farm-type exhibits. Finally on our way out, we noticed the ticket office had opened so we stopped in to pay. Kitty was waiting for us happily eating breakfast. I think the lady was a bit surprised we paid and left but I'm sure the cat later told her why.

Here is our guardian for the tour. He was a purrfect tour guide.

This is a very forbidding-looking castle. It looks like it could really withstand an attack.