La Ferté-Imbault

The villages and towns of the Sologne region, which is just north and east of Saint-Aignan, are built largely of brick. There is no local stone to build with. The land is sandy and flat, pockmarked by little lakes, ponds, and marshes, and covered with forests of birch and pine. The land was drained and forests planted about 150 years ago, making it a healthier place to live. For centuries, mosquitoes were a plague.

Typical Sologne cottages in brick

In late May 2006, we went with some friends and spent an afternoon walking around in a couple of towns over that way. This one is called La Ferté-Imbault, and it is about 25 km/15 mi. east of the Château du Moulin, and on the other side of the area's largest town and "capital," Romorantin-Lanthenay (pop. 20,000). That puts La Ferté-Imbault about 50 km/30 mi. from Saint-Aignan.

Le château de La Ferté-Imbault

Saint-Aignan is really on the border of three regions. The town used to be called Saint-Aignan-du-Berry — the Berry is a farming area east and south of us, centered on the city of Bourges. I consider Saint-Aignan now to be naturally a part of the Touraine, the old wine-growing and vegetable-farming province centered on the city of Tours. That's partly because the wines around here are appellation Touraine. The Sologne is north and east of us; its southern boundary is the Cher River, more or less, and Saint-Aignan is on the south bank of the river.

View of the château from the streets of La Ferté-Imbault

There are several things the Sologne region is famous for. Because it is an area of forests, lakes, and marshes, hunting — rabbits, ducks and other birds, fish, deer, and boar are the local game animals — is the first one. (Here's a road sign you see frequently in Sologne.) A lot of Parisians make the two-hour drive to vacation in the forests of Sologne in summertime. The local cuisine is based on game. It is also based on asparagus and strawberries, which grow well in the region's sandy soil.

The Sologne is not really wine country, even though there are at least two appellations: Cheverny and Cour-Cheverny. Besides the forests and lakes themselves, the area's two biggest attractions are the châteaux at Cheverny and Chambord. Both châteaux are famous as magnificent hunting lodges.

To many, the Sologne is a mysterious, magical place. It's an island of forests in a sea of surrounding farmland. And it has always been very poor, so it hasn't changed much over the centuries. Times are changing now, of course, with the advent of the autoroutes. The Sologne sits inside a triangle of autoroutes with Orléans as its northern point, Vierzon its southern, and Tours its western limit.

View of the château from the streets of La Ferté-Imbault

So what about La Ferté-Imbault? There is nothing about it in the Michelin Green Guide for the Loire Valley, and there's nothing in the Cadogan Loire guidebook either. On the village's web site, I read that it was founded in the year 980 when the lord of the nearby town of Vierzon, whose name was Humbault, built fortifications on the site. The term ferté is an obsolete word meaning "fortified place" that survives in many place names around this part of France.

A town grew up around the fort, but in August 1356 the English army marched through — it was the time of the Hundred Years War between France and England — and torched the fortress and the village. They left it in ruins and records show that in the early 1400s only a hamlet composed of 12 houses remained on the site.

Le château de La Ferté-Imbault

The château was rebuilt in the early 1500s, but was burned down again during the wars of religion at the end of that century. In 1627, a general named Jacques d'Estampes had the château rebuilt, turning it into a residence. That's the château you see in my pictures.

The d'Estampes were local notables that went back several centuries, and Jacques had the title of Marquis de La Ferté-Imbault. He was a general in the armies of King Louis XIII and rose to the rank of maréchal de France. The château has been in the family's hands for four centuries, according to the village web site.