The town of Le Lude was created on January 1, 2018, from the union of two so Le Lude and Dissé-sous-le-Lude. It is 20 km from La Flèche, 45 km from Le Mans, 65 km from Angers, 154 km from Nantes, and 290 km from my house. The château du Lude is located in the town of Le Lude in the department of Sarthe no 72 in Pays de la Loire region of my belle France.
The site is occupied from the Middle Ages and becomes a strategic point on the borders of Maine, Anjou and Touraine. The origins of the Château du Lude date back to the end of the 9C. It was at that time, after the first Viking incursions in Anjou between 853 and 873, that the local lords undertook the construction of fortresses to protect their land. This is how the Fort de la Motte is built in the end of the 13C, the bases of a fortress in masonry are established further south, at the site of the current castle. The construction of this medieval fortress spreads from the 13C to the 15C after the defeat of the French army in Verneuil in 1424, the English completed the conquest of Maine. They seized the castle in the fall of 1425. The English occupation only lasted two years. At the end of 1427, French troops took over the castle at the end of a siege of several days.
The château du Lude becomes the property of Jean Daillon, Chambellan of King Louis XI, in 1457. For two centuries, the Daillon worked in the embellishment of the castle, and transform the old medieval fortress into a pleasure house. Renovated at the end of the 18C by the Marquise de la Vieuville, then a century later by the Marquis de Talhouët,(my former HQ was on a castle of this family in the Morbihan dept 56) the castle testifies to four centuries of French architecture. One nice room kept a picture is the Francois I Drawing room with a Renaissance fireplace on the far left Italian cabinet with mother-of-pearl inlay, The château du Lude receives a number of illustrious hosts, including the Kings Henri IV, who attended its first procession in 1598 since its conversion to Catholicism on the occasion of Corpus Christi, and Louis XIII in 1619. In 1675 , the land of the lude is erected as a duchy-peer by letters given to Versailles.Henry de Daillon, lieutenant-general of the king’s armies, thus became the first duke of Lude, Henry de Daillon died without heir in 1685. He bequeath the castle to his nephew Antoine Gaston de Roquelaure, marshal of France. By inheritance, the castle then falls to the Dukes of Rohan, who sold the property in 1751, Then, passes to the family of Talhouët, originally from Brittany and whose members will exercise high political responsibilities, From the middle of the 19C, a large campaign to restore the castle with works beginning in 1853 with the renovation of the paintings of ‘Ancient oratory, dating from the 16C, the northwest tower of the castle, in which a guards room, a library and a staircase of honor are arranged, was done between 1854 and 1855 Also, the northern facade, overlooking the city , is restored in the neo -Gothic style ,and finally, work to repair the Renaissance facade is undertaken, without modifying the composition.
The Marquis de Talhouët, then his son René, continue the embellishment of the castle until the dawn of the Great War or WWI, The Château du Lude remains the property of the Talhouët until the death of René de Talhouët, in 1948, During the 1914-1918 WWI, Le Lude welcomed sixty Belgian and French refugees from the front regions. From the start of WWII, soldiers of the British army stayed at Le Lude. Arrived in September 1939 in order to establish an aerodrome there, they left the city in April 1940, faced with the Nazis advance, even before the project was carried out at its end. The following May, the first refugees from Belgium or the Ardennes were welcomed at Lude. The Nazi army took possession of the city on June 19, 1940. The city was liberated in the morning of August 12, 1944.
The castle is today the property of Louis-Jean de Nicolaÿ and his wife Barbara, founder of the “fête des Jardiniers” or gardeners festival in 1994. It was as part of this celebration, the main cultural event of the castle organized each year at the beginning of June, that the P.J. Redouté Prize, which rewards the best garden and botany books in French, The château du Lude holds the label « Jardin remarquable ». or remarkable garden,
Other things to see here with more time are the Maison des Architectes where in 1479 Jean Gendrot, architecte in charge of the transformation of the medieval castle to a pleasure one lived, Also, the Church Saint-Vincent, from the 11-12C and 16-17C,housing several works of arts,
The town of Le Lude on the castle : https://ville-lelude.fr/que-faire-au-lude/le-chateau-du-lude/
The official Château du Lude : https://www.lelude.com/
The local Loir Valley tourist office on the castle : https://www.loir-valley.com/offers/chateau-du-lude-le-lude-en-585180/
The Sarthe dept 72 tourist office on the castle : https://www.sarthetourism.com/cultural-heritage/chateau-du-lude/
There you go folks, another wonder to be seen, worth the detour , me think. This is wonderful architecture and history to know and visit ,and even with more time. Again, hope you enjoy the post on the Château du Lude of Le Lude !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health ,and many cheers to all !!! 
Paris1972-Versailles2003 