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Chateau du Rivau

Visit Chateau du Rivau (Loire Valley, France)

The Chateau de Rivau is situated in Lémere, in the centre of the Loire Valley and about 12 kilometres south-east of Chinon. It is one of the smaller of the castles in the region, and very attractively proportioned while avoiding the excessive ornamentation that many of the castles feature.

The Chateau de Rivau is now one of the most important tourist destinations in the Touraine region.

History and design of Chateau du Rivau

Built in the middle of the 15th century, the castle is essentially medieval in design with the keep, round towers, a moat and a drawbridge dominating the external appearance.

Despite the external defensive appearance and military elements Rivau incorporates many renaissance style elements such as the windows, added after the original castle was built. These elements are perhaps more obvious inside Chateau du Rivau, which is a much more comfortable and well equipped interior than we would find in a medieval fortress, with large comfortably furnished salons and monumental fireplaces.

The substantial stables here were added a little later (around 1510) by François de Beauvau, a military captain for the French King and it was here that the horses used by the royal family were kept and trained*. Not how you might imagine stables, these are a substantial two storey building that is more substantial than many fine houses...

* Le Rivau was an important source of military horses before this and as early as 1429, towards the end of the Hundred Years' War and before the siege of Orleans, Joan of Arc and her followers came here for their horses.

The current owners of Chateau du Rivau bought it about 20 years ago, and over the last two decades they have carried out a very extensive programme of renovation works on the castle, stables and winery, which had started to fall into serious disrepair.

Gardens at Chateau du Rivau

The owners have also planned and reinstated extensive gardens at the castle, based around a series of twelve newly designed gardens that are intended to evoque the medieval art of gardening through the use of modern planting, and incorporating various other artistic objects.

Called the Fairytale Gardens these are officially listed as "remarkable gardens" and are perhaps the principal reason why visitors come to the castle.

See more Loire Valley castles.

Photos taken within 10 km

Address: Château du Rivau, Indre-et-Loire, Loire Valley || GPS: latitude 47.102, longitude 0.3212

Map of Chateau du Rivau & places nearby



 

Highlights close by

More suggestions: Candes-Saint-Martin 22km; Fontevraud Abbey 22km; Montsoreau 24km; Langeais 26km; Chateau de Villandry 30km; Saumur 35km; Chateau de Saumur 35km; Moncontour, Vienne 35km; Tours 43km;

See lots more places to visit nearby and a more detailed map at places near Chateau du Rivau.
See Loire Valley and Indre-et-Loire (the region and department for Chateau du Rivau) for more travel ideas...

Suggested tourist attractions to visit near Chateau du Rivau, France

• Les jardins du château du Rivau - remarkable garden (2km)
• Chinon - secteur sauvegarde (10km)
• Richelieu - secteur sauvegarde (10km)
• Crissay-sur-Manse - most beautiful village (14km)
• Loudun - recommended detour (21km)
• Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau - national monument (21km)
• Aquarium de Loudun - aquarium (21km)
• Les jardins de la Chatonnière - remarkable garden (21km)
• Collegiale Church (Candes-Saint-Martin) - religious monument (22km)
• Candes-Saint-Martin - most beautiful village (22km)

The French version of this page is at Chateau du Rivau (Francais)