When Diane de Poitiers (more anon) infamous mistress of Henri II first set eyes on Chaumont (an unwanted acquisition) she conceded that it was pretty.

Today, 8 August, is World Cat Day. Maisie, the Photograph France Cat, has a personality by pass but like all cats, hugely entertaining because she is unfathomable. Why does she stare fixedly at us? Accusingly. Why will she drink from the red plastic bowl, but not the white china one nand why is her fave tipple dirty rainwater?

The habits, the how’s, when’s, why’s and where’s of this enchanting bird differ according to which source you read. Some say it lands now and again, some say not. Some say it’s the fastest bird in the word, others dispute it.

Many châteaux are little more than museums, many are cold, damp and forbidding but not Château Amboise. In winter, when frost is on the ground and giant logs are crackling in the giant fireplace you feel you could move in, pull up a chair and be quite at home.

We recently visited the nearby Grand Caves Saint Roch, the largest troglodyte in the region. This is our second visit to a wine cave, only nine hundred and ninety eight to go. Well, this is the Val de Loire, France’s third largest wine region with, if anyone is counting, four thousand vineyards, a thousand of which welcome visitors.

The wonderful library was built by Charles Bedaux for his American wife Fern who was a voracious reader. Every balustrade on the gallery is hand carved with a different pattern. Some of Madame Bedaux’ books are still on the shelves. One is a biography of Queen Mary, Edward’s mother. He was heartbroken when this cold, unforgiving, woman refused to receive Wallis into the family.

The balcony at Château de Candé is surely one of the most famous in the world. This is where, on 3 June 1937, a groom and his bride posed for wedding photographs, the most scandalous wedding in history, it sparked a constitutional crisis which changed the British monarchy forever.