Château d'Ussé, château de la Belle au bois dormant

Rigny-Ussé

Standing at the edge of the Chinon forest, facing the valley where the Indre soon joins the Loire, Ussé lines up its white towers, its slate roofs bristling with turrets and its flower-filled terraces: the very silhouette of a fairy-tale château. A medieval fortress gradually transformed from the 15th to the 17th century into a pleasure residence, it retains a Renaissance chapel built from 1530 to 1535 by the d'Espinay family, a jewel of the early Touraine Renaissance, and formal gardens laid out after Le Nôtre's style, planted with century-old orange trees. It is here that tradition places the birth of one of the world's most famous fairy tales: Charles Perrault, familiar with the place in the 17th century, is said to have stayed at Ussé and, faced with this château "in the sleeping wood" backed by the dark forest, to have found the setting for Sleeping Beauty, published in 1697 in his Histoires ou contes du temps passé. Nothing proves this absolutely, but the literary legend is old, persistent, and the place lends it credence: keep, ramparts walk and attics lend themselves so well to the story that the owners have installed a trail of costumed scenes following Princess Aurora, the fatal spindle and the prince crossing the brambles. Visitors also discover the furnished salons, the Vauban staircase and the view over the terraced gardens, in a château that is still very much alive.

Getting there : D7, left bank of the Indre, between Chinon and Langeais (20 min) and 40 min from Tours; free car park for about 200 cars in front of the château; stop on the Loire à Vélo cycle route with cyclist parking.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound