Hi all!
My family and I (includes 3 teen girls, 12-16) will be driving from Angers to Chenonceau to visit in late June. We intend to arrive at the chateau mid-late afternoon, so we'd like to pick somewhere along the way to visit and have a picnic lunch. Where would you suggest? Assuming we drive D952, we'll pass the other chateaux of Ussé, Azay-le-Rideau and Villandry--all could be interesting, but we probably wouldn't plan to tour any of them, so we'd just sight-see from the outside an walk around their towns. Would you still choose one of these--if so, which one? Would we be terribly wrong to miss going inside one of these? I'm trying to keep in mind what would interest the girls moreso than my husband and me. Otherwise, what town/villages could be interesting? Saumur is not on the list because we will be visiting there another day, we'll also pass the "plus beaux villages" of Montsoreau + Candes-St.-Martin and could stop. We are open to taking another driving route, but D952 seems most scenic--though we will probably take another route for the return. I'm hoping to give the girls glimpses of France's many sides, so am especially open to stops that would show them something markedly different than Chenonceau.