PIERREFONDS - A magnificent castle just 1 hour away from Paris, a place to ‘knock your socks off…’

The Chateau de Pierrefonds although a 12-Century fortress castle, feel into disrepair and it was only at the end of the 19^th-C, that Napoleon III  took it over and had it rebuilt. It took 30 years to finish. Although Napoleon III took some liberties with the reconstruction, the castle is a WOW. Especially the drive up to it from miles away. It does have all those boyhood fantasies about what a Castle should be – a drawbridge, eight imposing defensive towers, a keep and much more…all for a Magical visit to the country of knights.

The village below is charming and if you are there on market day, that is a plus.

France’s most beautiful villages – Rochefort en Terre – Brittany

Rural France is scattered with ‘ villes fleuris’ flower villages, but few villages could possibly be more flowery than this exquisite Breton community. Along its winding lanes and alleyways, everything from fountains and wells to windowsills and water troughs  is bursting with begonias and geraniums, while the gardens of its tumble down 15^th-C Chateau are an exhilarating blaze of color.