In the footsteps of the man who would not be king...

On Wednesday we took Eileen to visit Chateau de Cande famous for hosting the marriage of Edward, Prince of Wales to the American divorcee Wallis Simpson on June 3rd 1937. It was a revisit for Pauline and me and it was good to see more rooms, especially bathrooms, have been opened up to the public since our last visit.

Pauline was perfectly colour coordinated for this bathroom.

You can see more of the interior here. 

A walk around...park at Chateau Cande

We returned to Domaine de Candé, a much underrated Loire Valley chateau, earlier in the year to do the walk through the estate - we had noticed it highlighted on a previous visit.

Although it was not the best of days weather-wise it proved to be a rather pleasant walk.

With friends Mike and Liz we followed the marked out path into the woods surrounding the chateau.

The walk (sentier) is free to do even if you are not visiting the chateau but can only be done when the chateau is actually open for visitors. You can check out the opening times on the official website here. 

The walk takes you through the woods past some small lakes....

through woodlands...

...and surprisingly close to the A85...

but it's not long before you're back in the woods

Liked this natural arch.

When we were there parts of the track were being upgraded - to cope with the summer season ahead...

...and at one point we had to trek through  this...

...and over this .

I'm sure the work will be well finished by now.

 We past this set of buildings on the final part of the walk...

...which was home to Mary and Jesus.

Before catching sight of our destination. If you visit the chateau and want the exercise -  it's worth doing.