France- Loire Valley Recommendations?
 

Hello all!
My husband and I are heading to France this April for a week's stay in Paris but starting our travels with three days in the Loire Valley.

We are in the process of selecting a place(s) to stay and would greatly appreciate any thoughts/recommendations about the following: Chateau des Reaux, Le Moulin Fleuri and Manoir les Minimes...all three very different styles of properties. We will have a car so can move about easily and may opt to stay at two. We'd also be most grateful for suggestions on favorite restaurants in the area.

Thank you all in advance for the courtesy of your reply!

I stayed at the Manoir les Minimes for 3 nights 2 years ago in May. I loved it!
It's beautifully located, with views of the river and the chateau (beautifully lit up at night). My room was a standard type, and absolutely lovely. The staff are very professional and helpful - and I adored the beautiful dog. They have their own courtyard parking, which is great. Amboise is a great place to base. I stayed 10 days in the Loire, so stayed at several places. I loved Amboise, and there is alot to do there.

I forgot to mention, I had a wonderful dinner at l'Epicerie in Amboise.

We stayed at the Chateau des Reaux a couple of years ago and loved it. Just be aware that this is a legitimate 15th century castel - with turrets and moat - not a modern resort style chateaux.

The roomms vary a lot. there are some modern ones over the stable I would not stay in. Also - in the chateau itself there are some more luxurious rooms on the first fllor up - but if you go up a couple more flights the rooms are somwhat more simple. No elevator.

We also had dinner one night (they host a fixed meal with local wines once or twice a week for guests) and our food was simple but superb. And the company's (a couple of other americans, canadians, australians, russians and a couple from argentina - all managing in semi-mangled english and french) wide ranging discussion, starting in the antique filled drawing rooms, made the experience unique.

The host and hostess speak perfectly good english - but knowing at least a little french (understanding - even if not speaking) makes the entire experience more enjoyable.

Le Cheval Blanc in Bléré is one of my favorite restaurants in France.

I just booked three nights at Le Cheval Blanc in September! Thanks to St Cirq and Underhill we had a marvelous dinner there last suummer, one of the best of our trip.

I'll have to second Sue4's comments re: Manoir les Minimes...we stayed there for one night back in Sept. 2002. We had a deluxe room which was quite spacious and beautiful with lovely views of the chateau Ambois and river. The staff was so nice. My husband and I overslept (we had just arrived in France that day) and woke up at 11:30am when checkout was 11am. They never called us so when we called them apologizing and asking for a late checkout, they were so nice and said of course, no extra charge, etc...
The town of Amboise is beautiful and the location was convenient to all the chateaus (sp??).
Have fun!!