It is always thus – we speed down the motorway to get to our destination as fast as possible, and yet on the way miss and dismiss many other areas and attractions en route.
One such is the “Sologne” a vast area of unspoilt nature teeming with ponds, heathland and forest in the loop of the Loire river south of Orleans. If you take the A71 autoroute south from Orleans towards Bourges, Clermont-Ferrand or Limoges and Cahors, you pass through the Sologne, and as so often a landscape that is not particularly dramatic becomes a bore – just more time between you and your destination,
It starts in the west around Romorantin-Lanthenay (not for from Cheverny and stretches east and south towards Sancerre and Vierzon.
Romorantin-Lanthenay is well-known as a gastronomic centre, and gives its name to the local aromatic Romorantin grape. Otherwise. the main towns (and there really aren’t many) are on the N20 and include Lamothe-Beuvron (home of the Tarte Tatin the upside-down Apple Pie) and La Ferte-St-Aubin.
But the main joys of the area have to be the solitude and the nature – ideal walking, hiking, cycling, fishiing and hunting country, bird- and nature-watching.
Best of all the area is quiet, uncrowded and less than 90 minutes from Paris.
Although no wine is grown within the area, there are plenty of local wines to choose from – Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny in the west, Coteaux du Giennois, Pouilly-sur-Loire and Sancerre to the east and Menetou-Salon, Quincy and Reuilly to the South.
For more info on the Sologne see www.sologne-france.com
stay ay the Maison Tatin Hotel in Lamothe-Beuvron
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