Smell the roses

Carolyn Reynier heads for Loiret to explore two charming ‘Petites Cités de Caractère’

- Carolyn Reynier

I recently read an article about the Route de la Rose – 12 ‘sites d’excellence’ in Loiret, a department located south of Paris in the Centre-Val de Loire region, and home to the regional capital, Orléans. These sites include beautiful château gardens, elegant parks and sweet-smelling nurseries.

What a delightfully scented and colourful way of exploring the department, I thought. Thanks to the light and fertile soil in the region, the rose happily put down roots here long ago. After visiting, I think you may want to do the same.

So put on your rose-tinted glasses and let’s look at property in and around two Loiret Petites Cités de Caractère. Don’t be fooled by the name though, these are not cities, rather towns and villages.

The moated town of StBenoît-sur-Loire, 40km east of Orléans, with 14 centuries of history and culture, is home to the Abbaye de Fleury. The abbey dates from the 7th century; the community was dispersed following the French Revolution but since 1944 a community of Benedictine monks has occupied the spectacular monastery. Today, the town and abbey form a recognised site within the UNESCO World Heritage classified Loire Valley site.

The second Petite Cité de Caractère, Ferrières-enGâtinais, is in the north-east corner of the department near subprefecture Montargis, which is known as the Venice of Gâtinais. Just 100 miles south of Paris, Ferrières is close to the Seine-et-Marne and Yonne departments, which together with Loiret and Essonne form the old county of Gâtinais, now classified as a Région Naturelle.