The Château d’Ussé at Rigny-Ussé !!!

Posted in Europe, France

Well here I am in my road warrior trips to the wonderful Loire valley of my belle France. This is an area you can easily spent a lifetime and do not see it all, awesome. I have seen plenty of these castles and monuments but decided to come back to one not been in years… before blogging! To my organising self, we came on the 9th and the Ussé castle is not open until the 13th so we missed the inside and as road warrior goes no time to call ahead. Oh well I will show you what I saw and more power to come back for more soon!

Usse castle towers far feb22

Here is my brief take on the Château d’Ussé . hope you enjoy it as I.

Usse castle entrance feb22

The Château d’Ussé is located in Rigny-Ussé, in the Indre-et-Loire dept 37 of the Centre-Val de Loire region, It is a private domain open to visitors,and belongs to the 7th Duke of Blacas. It is located 33 km from Tours and 14 km from Chinon, in the town of Rigny-Ussé. Ussé merged in 1860 with Rigny to form the town of Rigny-Ussé.

Usse castle towers feb22

Usse castle inside orangery feb22

In 1099, Olivier d’Ussé was the lord of the place. His family seems to retain the lordship until the 14C. Towards the end of the Hundred Years’ War, in 1424, Jean V de Bueil, Count of Sancerre and Admiral of France, Lord of Ussé and notable captain of the king’s armies, member of one of Touraine’s most illustrious families built the basic structure of the current château. He died in 1477. His son Antoine, Count of Sancerre in 1478 and Lord of Ussé in 1456, married in 1462 Jeanne de Valois, daughter of Charles VII and Agnès Sorel. In the 1460s, he undertook the reconstruction of the castle in the style of the 15C. Over-indebted, Antoine de Bueil sold Ussé to Jacques d’Espinay in 1485. Of Breton origin, Jacques d’Espinay was the son of the chamberlain of the Duke François II of Brittany. He himself became chamberlain to Kings Charles VIII and Louis XII, then became Grand Master of the Queen’s Hotel. He continued the work on the castle and founded the collegiate church in 1521, destined to become the funeral chapel for his family.
Voltaire is said to have stayed there and written part of La Henriade. King Louis XVIII offered the lords of the time his portrait, which still hangs on the wall of the grand staircase. The castle has two architectural styles, one of medieval and Gothic inspiration and the other of the Renaissance. The interior courtyard presents an example of these two styles. Of course, this is the castle overlooking the Indre and the Loire rivers, so wonderful that it inspired Charles Perrault to imagine the castle of Sleeping Beauty.

Usse castle towers et logis feb22

Usse castle inside chapel feb22

Usse castle inside chapel closeup feb22

The official Château d’Ussé: https://www.chateaudusse.fr/?lang=en

 The city of Rigny-Ussé on its heritage : http://www.rigny-usse.fr/tourisme.html

The South Loire tourist board on the castle: https://www.sudvaldeloire.co.uk/offers/chateau-dusse-rigny-usse-en-2608562/

Of course, we went by car just about 3h30 from our house and we took the scenic ride going along the Loire river by the D55 road by Loire Authion and Saint Mathurin then connect with the D952 along Le Port Maur and passing the road D749 bridge, then the Pont de Montsoreau, and the Pont du Cadre Noir or road D347 awesome!!

There you go folks, a nice visit and will come back, eventually. This is me , us in the road warrior trips of my beautiful Loire valley , the valley of the kings, and my belle France ,where else!! Hope you enjoy this introduction to the small cute town of Rigny-Ussé and its castle.

And remember, happy travels, good health , and many cheers to all !!!

Unknown's avatar

Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.