Château de Valençay — Attraction in Châteauroux

I love history and I could not help but discover the castle of the most impressive French political figure of the late 18th, early 19th century. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand went through 9 different political regimes and was never beheaded. Napoleon who made him his Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1799 called him once in 1807 "a scumbag in a silk socking". His nickname was the "cripped devil". Very much hated by his contemporaries, including Chateaubriand, Georges Sand, and Victor Hugo, he was an incredible and versatile diplomat who became indispensable to any political regime in France. He was in favor of a representative and constitutional monarchy and was behind a lot of peace treaties including the "Concordat" with England. He died at age 84. Abusing his power as many others at that time, he became sufficiently wealthy to buy this castle which includes a very nice collection of furniture from the first empire. There is also the famous letter that he negociated with the archbishop of Paris just before his death to "save his soul". I am sure he did it again :-) I do not give 5 stars because I wish I could learn more about the historical and political context of his time, but it is true that I was already quite...

Pretty chateau and lovely walks BUT day more or less ruined by the most rude staff member serving us on the way in. We went yesterday monday 25.7.22. His attitude was unbelievable, like he was so sick and tired of repeating himself to the customers....never informed us of the audio guide which is free apparently. The Chateau is having what seems like renovation works on it, so one side is covered in scaffolding. The other side lots of works involving something that creates lots of dust, the moat is filled with machinery going back and forth. The animals are a few goats and sheep in pens which are a good sized pens and seem fairly healthy but what a state the pens are. It's just not worth the money to get in. And the added rude man taking the entry fee is unbelievable. Gift shop at the end sells not many gifts as such but many books. Don't bank on a nice lavender soap. And...the restaurant is shut and is only open to groups on prebooking. So for lunch you have to go into the town and then come back, which is allowed. Overall it's like the Fawlty Towers...

A beautiful castle, I am glad I visited, despite the weather. I would have liked to explore the park more. There are animals (goats, sheep, peacocks...). The interior is really worth a visit, you can use the smartphone as an audio guide in several languages (or just read the information). The rooms and furniture is impressive, as is the kitchen and old wine cellar. To top it off, you can see an equestrian show for 2€. Due to the weather, it did not take place, but you can visit the horses nevertheless, which was lovely. If you are interested in cars, you can buy a combined ticket for the castle and the automobile museum...