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Chateau de la Barre

Loire Valley, France

Map

Directions

How to Reach Château de la Barre

Between Dover/Folkestone and Calais putting the car on the train (30 min) with Eurotunnel

Ferries from UK to Calais, Caen, le Havre, Cherbourg, St Malo Dinand with P&O or Britanny Ferries: www.poferries.com, www.brittany-ferries.fr

From Paris, take the A11 in direction of Bordeaux/Nantes, exiting at La Ferté Bernard. Follow the D1 in direction of St. Calais. Go through the villages of Lamnay, Vibraye and Berfay. 5,5 km from Berfay, before you reach St. Calais, turn right directly off the D1 into our property entrance. Do NOT turn down towards Conflans.

From Rouen, take the A28 to Le Mans, exiting at Le Mans East, just after the fork towards the Tours/Blois motorway. Take the St Calais exit sign, drive about 30km to St Calais. In St Calais, bear left at the first and second red light, then go straight at the third red light, onto the D1 in direction of Vibraye. After 2,5km, turn left directly into our property drive. Do not turn down towards Conflans.  Note: in France, on Sunday and holidays, Petrol can only be found in petrolstations on the main motorways!

Optional airport transfers and English speaking chauffeur service available upon request at additional cost. Guy and Marnie de Vanssay will be pleased to help you organize your transfers/transport to Chateau de La Barre and tailor make your sightseeing to your interests. We speak English and German fluently.

By TGV train:

Fast speed TGV train from Paris Montparnasse to Vendome Villiers with SNCF:

(Paris to Vendôme is 42 minutes with the TGV fast speed train.)  Station is 16 miles from the chateau.

Car rental available in Vendome at the station.

Airport :

Tours : Tours (direct flights from London Stansted to Tours)  http://www.tours.aeroport.fr/

Daily flights from London Stansted to Tours airport .

Rental car from Vendôme station or Tours airport

Train between London Waterloo and Paris Gare du Nord.

Aeroport Shuttle cab for pick up to and from Charles de Gaulle Roissy airport to Gare Montparnasse train station.

Good to Know:

It's important to know that petrol (gasoline) can be purchased with cash or non-Frence credit cards only on the motorways and some (rare) village stations.   Restaurants in the French countryside service lunch only between 12:00 and 1:30 pm and dinner between 7:15 and 8:45 pm.  These times are set by government regulation.  

  

Detailed Directions Driving from Paris or Calais:

From Charles de Gaulle, follow the A1 motorway until the outside peripherique boulevard/motorway circling Paris. Enter Paris-Ouest, circling Paris and exiting Porte de St Cloud, onto the motorway A11 Bordeaux/Nantes until the toll (about 30 minutes after leaving Paris) then bear right in direction of Chartres/Le Mans. Exit at Chartres and catch renowned scholar, Malcolm Miller’s public tour either at 12h00 sharp or 14H45 sharp. However his tour may not be taking place in the winter months on a regular basis.

Rejoin the motorway where you left it and drive on for another 40 minutes, exiting at La Ferté Bernard. Exit from the motorway and turn left to follow the D1 through Lamnay, Vibraye *and Berfay. Turn right into the drive of Chateau de La Barre, 5.5km after Befray (and 2km before St. Calais), by a brick gatehouse with a white barrier. Do not turn down towards the village of Conflans. Chateau de La Barre is located off the D1 between both roads leading down to Conflans. The château is in the middle of the park, not visible from the road.

Alternatively, from Chartres, follow the N10 down to Chateaudun, to take a look at the main castle fortress, built by Joan of Arc’s companion of arms, Dunois, bastard son of the King of France and renowned for having modernised French Middle Age military strategy.   Then follow the signs to Courtalain on the D927, and from there, the signs to St Agil and Mondoubleau, via Arville, where you can visit the Knight Templar fortress of the XIIth century.  From Mondoubleau, take the small, bucolic road to Baillou, then onto Rahay and then follow the signs towards Conflans.

*Alternatively, from Vibraye, follow signs to Montmirail, about 6 km East. This private Chateau is open to visits on weekend afternoons throughout the summer.

 

Coming from Tours airport, you will enter a round about immediately exiting the airport. Go straight, following the sign to Le Mans. At the second roundabout, go straight again, then at the third roundabout, follow the signs right to La Chartre sur Loir (not Le Mans any more!) onto the D29.

Drive through Beaumont la Ronce (there is a beautiful Renaissance castle in the middle of the town, with a "Rumpelstilzchen" tower, but not visitable from the inside, it is now the town hall). Continue through La Chartre sur Loir, turning right onto the D305 in direction of Reuilly and Poncé. Just before Poncé, to your left, you may wish to stop at the cellars of Lelais to sample his Jasnières wine, also Chenin Blanc vines the Vouvray is made from. The cellars of Lelais producer are worth seeing.  Continue on to Bessé sur Braye and then onto the D303 to St Calais.

In Bessé, time permitting, you may turn left for 1 km towards the Chateau de Courtanvaux, remarkable Renaissance castle, used to belong to Madame de Montesquiou, governess to Napoleon’s son, the King of Rome, and prior to that, to the Maréchal de Souvré, Henri IV’s minister and ancestor to the Comte de Vanssay.

In St Calais, go straight through the village. There is a red light entering the village, go straight, and a blinking red light exiting the village, go straight. At the next red light, continue straight, onto the D1 in direction of the A11 and Vibraye. After 2,8 km, turn left directly into our estate drive, off the D1 directly. Do not follow signs to Conflans.  There is a brick gate house and white barrier by the road. The Chateau is 800 meters down into the park, not visible from the road.  

Driving from St Malo, take the scenic road along the beach to Pontorson

just below Mont St Michel, then drive down the D975 to Fougères via Antrain.

Then follow the N12 to Ernée and onto Mayenne. There, get onto the D35 to

Aron, then down onto the small, but sceninc D7 to Julbains, a Roman camp. Daniel may be interested in seeing the ruins. From there, stay on the D7 via Evron to Ste Suzanne, a beautiful little town, with a castle ruin and gorgeous

view over the 'alpine" area of our Sarthe region.

From Ste Suzanne, drive down to the N157 until you reach the circular boulevard (périphérique) of Le Mans.  Here, 2 possibilities:

1) Drive into the old city of Le Mans, birthplace of Henri II of England, Plantagenet, and great grandson of William the Conqueror. The old city is magnificiently restored, has the oldest Gallo Roman walls still standing

in France, and the superb St Julien cathedral. It is also the stage set to numerous films, such as the man in the Iron Mask, the Three Muskateers etc... They have a sound and light show on after 9 pm, but if you are tired out, then come here straight

2) rest, have tea, apple cider and then head out to dinner or the market.