Travel France: Cher
Driving down the ruler-straight road, the countryside flashed between carpets of radiant sunflowers, warm yellow fields of wheat and the occasional wild meadow, cluster of grazing cattle or row of vines.
The undiscovered department of Cher, in the heart of France, has a little bit of everything. It’s like a mini France all rolled into one department. It has stately châteaux, delicious AOC wine and cheese, charming villages and a stunning heritage. And it’s less than two hours from Paris.
Our voyage of discovery began in Bourges, the department’s delightful medieval capital. The town is an interesting mix of half-timbered houses and Roman remains and it possesses one of the most outstanding gothic cathedrals in France.
Any visit to the town has to start off at this cathedral as it dominates the landscape and simply demands to be seen. It has been much commented upon by French literary lights such as Stendhal and Mérimée, and Henry James likened its huge mass to the hull of a ship. A daytime tour is a must to appreciate the huge interior. As a contemporary to the other big players, Chartres and, of course, Notre Dame, Bourges’ twelfth-century edifice is different in that it places emphasis on the width rather than height of the cathedral – although it is hardly diminutive in any of its dimensions.
The crypt is fascinating as the lie of the land means the Gothic part of it is overground and so, unusually, it has windows. Both this and the thirteenth-century stained-glass windows can be seen in an altogether different light by night when the cathedral is lit from within.
Les Nuits de Lumière de Bourges takes place every evening during July and August and at selected other times of the year. It is a tour of the town, taking in the cream of its fine buildings lit with sound and light shows. Follow the blue lights around the town and you will find yourself transported back to years gone by with gentle music and slide projections of paintings or films.
LABYRINTH
Bourges by day is a labyrinth of narrow, cobbled streets, finely preserved half-timbered properties and washed yellow stone buildings. There are several sights of note that have to be seen and thankfully several open places in which you can enjoy a restorative café au lait.
Jacques Cœur is a name you will see and hear a lot. As the master of the mint to King Charles VII of France, he was a man of humble origins whose extraordinary skill in trade and commerce saw him rise in rank to be one of the richest men in France. There is no finer example of his extreme wealth than the Palais Jacques Cœur which, with its lavish rooms for entertaining, well-tended penthouse servants’ quarters and, not forgetting his personal sauna and steam room, was fit for a king.
Which is why the king got jealous and ordered him to be locked up. His legacy lives on in the town though and the palace has finally been given the go-ahead for a final stage of restoration.
Another lavish building is the Hôtel Lallemant. Where the cathedral was the first example of gothic architecture south of the Loire, the Lallemant brothers’ opulent house was the first example of Renaissance architecture in the whole of France. The evening light show makes it easy to imagine the extravagant parties that would have been held here and all of these grandiose buildings indicate Bourges’ wealth and power in previous centuries.
Just off the Rue Bourbonnoux is a hidden corner that is even more charming than the rest of the town. The tiny Rue des Remparts is little more than a path that follows the old Roman ramparts – some towers of which still remain and can be recognised by their line of red brick half way up. The tea shop, CAK’T, is a real find and you can eat a light lunch of whatever proprietor Evelyne decides to cook for just €10.
Rue Bourbonnoux is a good place to start for dining out in the evening and could just as easily be called restaurant street. Wander down from the cathedral and choose from Le d’Antan Sancerrois’ modern take on traditional French food, local haunt Le Bourbonnoux or anything in between.
A day and a night is not really enough time to do justice to Bourges, not least because there are so many restaurants to try. There is a healthy and varied selection of shops and plenty of events organised, especially during the summer months, for locals and visiting tourists alike.
It was not without regret then that we left Bourges but with wine capital Sancerre just 40km away, a large glass of dry white is quite a calling to ignore and we found ourselves heading north-east on the open road.
AS IF BY MAGIC...
The town of Sancerre appears from nowhere. The rolling, essentially flat countryside appears infinite and then, rounding a bend, it’s suddenly punctured by the nodule that Sancerre doggedly clings to.
Rather than brave the impossibly narrow roads that masquerade as pavements in the centre of town, we installed ourselves in the fittingly named Hôtel Panoramic on the edge of the old medieval centre. The views over the Sancerre vineyards – and the pool below – are invigorating to say the least, and this is just a taster of what is to come.
There are several spots in Sancerre that are earmarked for their panoramas and a hard one to beat is the Esplanade Porte César. Vines grip to the slightest hint of an incline and the valley bed is blanketed by alternating fields of crops and it is this contrast that sets apart the wine region of the Cher from others.
While there is clearly more to the department than wine, Sancerre is a name synonymous with dry whites and, happily, it is a brand which is difficult to escape in the town. The Maison des Sancerre is the shiny new initiative that waves the flag and it is a fascinating place to visit.
Go downstairs for a self-guided tour of the history of the wines and the area as well as an overview of the wine-making process. The Maison, only a year old, brings everything to life with discreet technology. Watch interviews with local vignerons on computer screens, sit and look down on a 3-D relief map of the Sancerre vineyards or simply read the simple-but-comprehensive information panels.
Conclude your visit with a walk around the Jardin des Sancerre. The numerous aromas present in the locally produced wines are recreated in this colourful mix of plants and shrubs and there are, of course, the ubiquitous views over the surrounding vineyards.
A guided tour of the town does not take long and wandering up and down the back streets you will find plenty of food and wine merchants to stockpile some goodies. Sancerre wine is exported to the UK but you can pick up a cheaper bottle in the town or directly from the vignerons themselves.
The Maison des Sancerre will arrange a visit to a local vineyard of your choice and you can benefit from vente directe prices. We paid a visit to the enterprising Pierre Fouassier’s Domaine Fouassier and we were not able to leave until we had tasted 12 of his wines (which made for an interesting walk back).
Wherever you wander, you invariably end up back at the main square, the Nouvelle Place. Taken over by the overspill of tables and chairs from the local cafés, this is a good stop for some lunch. Salads and the classic croque monsieur get the Sancerre treatment with the addition of some local AOC Chavignol goats’ cheese, all of which went very well with a glass of cold, dry white wine.
A TOUCH OF CLASS
For something a little more sophisticated, we treated ourselves and ate at the Restaurant La Tour that evening. In the bottom left-hand corner of the main square, we sat among both savvy Parisians – who seem to have quite a penchant for weekend visits to the town – and locals enjoying an evening out.
Each course was quietly presented and matched perfectly to an accompanying glass of wine. In a quiet and refined but not imposing atmosphere, we enjoyed the magic French combination of excellent service, delicious food and, as only to be expected, exquisite wine.
While Bourges and Sancerre are big draws to the area, there is much else to see and do. Cher is home to several of the infamous Châteaux de la Loire and you don’t have to drive very far before you stumble across one. Get a map of the region from the tourist board and plot out a route to include as many as possible. Most do guided tours by appointment – but be warned they can be a little dry as, for the large part, they are privately owned. The châteaux are often at their most impressive viewed from the outside.
Apremont-sur-Allier, a classified Plus Beaux Villages is situated in the far eastern reaches of the department and is ridiculously pretty. Nestled at the heart of the model stone cottages is the peaceful oasis the Parc Floral, which is especially noteworthy when the wisteria is in flower.
Cher is also the unofficial capital of pottery thanks to the little hamlet of La Borne. Today it is home to an international community of potters and has been since 1941 thanks to the abundance of clay in the soil and a plentiful supply of wood to keep the kilns burning.
The Centre Création Céramique is the off-beat, somewhat hippy-inspired head office as it were, and will organise visits and workshops with local resident potters. There is also an exhibition room here where work on display varies from the abstract to the inherently useful. I was particularly taken with Christophe Linard’s decorated roof tiles.
The merits of this little-known department really are endless and it was with heavy hearts again that we abandoned our well-travelled hire car and boarded the train back to Paris. With so much to see and do, just how much time is enough to discover the delights of Cher?