bilboburgler

Many years ago we took a cycle holiday along le Loir. Staying at little places which were 30km apart by bicycle which made us ride through woodland bike paths and along carless roads. I don't remember all the village names but here are some of them

Ruille sur loir
Chateau du loir
Vaas
Le Lude
La Fleche

we focused on restaurants or hotels which are based on the Logis chain https://www.logishotels.com/en/ which is a sort of marketing arm for all the tiny little secret hotels (not necessarily always the best, but always interesting) throughout France, the sort of place a business man stays or lovers who don't want to meet others they know. At least one was right on the river, one had collapsing staircases and one on a square with fountain and flowers around the windows (see below).

The Hotel de France in Chartre was the scene for "the incident". Mrs bilbo and I checked in but Mrs bilbo wanted to go to the bar while reception and I walked to our room. Reception was a tall blond in high heels and the walk was along deep cobble stones. Half way back she tripped and did herself a lot of damage on the ground. Think "Jane" from the war time cartoons. We eventually re entered the bar with this poor woman clothes ripped from her body, blood on her blouse, stockings ruined and me trying to help her.

Now you may feel that those towns are too close together for the usual US massive holiday. But not only could you visit Troo (never had the energy for that) or go north to Le Mans, and south to the towns along La Loire.

I recommend the Logis chain as we use it for France a lot. I have had amazing meals at low prices from chefs who just don't want a Michelin star, stayed in a converted hay loft of a Michelin one star restaurant who did not cook that night (but left us a little something to heat up).

By chance I have had to work in France over the years and whenever I had to go-out with clients these were the places we would go to. The great thing is, if you are in a wine district they are also where the local wine makers eat and I have, on one occasion, chosen a wine and asked the waiter to clarify an issue, at which point he asked another diner to help him out, it was the maker.

Coquelicot

Safa1, since you are looking into the Sarthe, I will say we’ve found a lot to enjoy there. The Musée de la Musique Mécanique at Dollon is a lot of fun but has very limited hours. Chateau Courtanvaux is a hidden gem (at Besse sur Braye); the park is open but the chateau itself has limited hours. It’s one of the rare chateaux that belongs to a municipality. Saint Calais is along both sides of a small river and has a small museum which includes several cabinets of curiosities. Saint Maixent has what remains of an aristocrat’s attempt at a model village for peasants. Vendome has a very pretty park in the center of town with a small river rushing through it. Lavardin is a Plus Beaux Village. Ponce sur le Loir has a chateau we didn’t visit and a church we did visit, with wonderful frescoes. In Bonnetable there’s a walled vegetable herb and fruit garden, now run by volunteers, which belonged (and maybe still does) to a privately owned chateau. Durtal has a large chateau. We liked the garden at Saint Biez en Belin (maybe called Jardin d’Atmosphere, though that name doesn’t ring a bell at the moment). At St Georges du Rosay there's a fortified church.

A village is by definition fewer than 2000 inhabitants, and some of the ones I mentioned above are not prosperous enough to support any stores, not even a bakery, let alone a good restaurant. Before you decide on a village, check out that it has any of the things you'll want to make your visit pleasant (Google maps or the French yellow pages).

Safa1

Thanks, Coquelicot, and Bilbo (funny story!), for sharing these. I'll let you allknow what I end up doing and maybe share a summary of my trip when I get back in October.