End of the 2011 season

It's always a time of reflection when the tours for a year come to an end. This week has been wonderfully warm - an Indian summer in France - but now as the time to leave comes closer, the coolness of autumn is setting in and leaving its touch of colour in the falling leaves. Yesterday we went to the beautiful gardens of Villandry, which are an interesting mix of vegetables, herbs and flowers all set in a formal layout amongst topiary hedges, gravel paths and green lawns. The photo shows some decorative pumpkins with a backdrop of celery tops and a foreground of flowers with herbs. Not unlike our own chateau, which also adopts the more medieval style of garden in combining the practical with the decorative. Even at the end of the tourist season, the French gardens are still very attractive. For your next Slow Tours holiday with us in the Loire Valley, follow this link Loire Valley 2012