More about Montrichard

So we had our initial meeting with the realtor Bourdais, and then Walt and I& had lunch in a pizzeria a couple of doors down from his office. We were feeling optimistic. If Bourdais really could arrange for to us visit a dozen or more houses over the course of the week, we'd get a pretty good idea of the possibilities and opportunities ahead of us.

Montrichard would become our "hub" for the week. Every day, we'd leave the gîte in Pocé and drive down there to meet Bourdais and see what he had on the schedule. Above is a view of Montrichard seen from the west. The Cher river is wide at this point.

We ended up seeing four houses in Montrichard over the next four days, as well as four in the Saint-Aignan area, 10 miles upriver. We also saw one house in Pontlevoy, just a few minutes north of Montrichard; one in Bourré, just a mile or two east of Montrichard on the river; and three in Amboise, which was our initial target. The photo above is a closer view of Montrichard, and below an even closer one. Two of the houses we saw were within easy walking distance from the center of town (Friday is market day there) and from a big supermarket. They were very close to the spot where I was standing when I took the first photo above.

We could well have ended up living in Montrichard and might have been happy there. Two problems: the asking price of the most attractive house there was slightly above what we wanted to spend. It was a beautiful house but the neighbor's house and yard were a junky mess, and it was all just a few feet away. The other problem was the river — the house was in the first row of houses along the river bank, and it had flooded a couple of years earlier. That was a red flag.

At Montrichard, the main east-west highway, which you'd take to go to Tours — a big city — is on the opposite bank of the Cher river. When we go there from Saint-Aignan, we take that road west, cross the Montrichard bridge, and either park on the river road or drive into town on the street you see above. There are several restaurants on a town square in the shadow of the town's old castle keep and the church below it. We've gone there innumerable times over the years, to shop in the outdoor market or to have meals in restaurants. For a few years, we went there for dental apointments. It's an easy drive.

Above is the tourist office in Montrichard. I think the building dates back to the 15th century. It suffered a big fire a few years ago but has been re-built and looks the same. Oh, and about the old donjon (castle tower), I've always wanted to pay the fee and climb up there to take in the views. I've still never done it! Maybe I'll get to go up there next spring or summer, pandemic willing.

Montrichard is closer to Amboise, Chenonceaux, Loches, and Tours than Saint-Aignan is, but I don't regret deciding to live over here rather than over there. It's close enough to us that we zip over there whenever we want to. There's never any traffic to worry about.