Tuesday 10 Sept 2024
We had planned to visit the Jardin Camifolia (Garden of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants) in Chemillé today and, when we discovered that they didn’t open until 2.00pm, we decided to go back and see if we could find the sarcophagus-making site from our visit to the troglodyte village in Doué-la-Fontaine a few days ago.
Chemillé and Doué-la-Fontaine
We took the motorway so it was quite quick and still enjoyed the lovely rural countryside with huge numbers of vineyards along the way. In France they don’t tend to sell from the cellar door so you can’t go on a wine-tasting tour in the same way as you can in New Zealand. Mixed in with the vineyards are fields of corn and sunflowers grown for animal feed and forested areas. The area around Doué-la-Fontaine is famous for rose growing and there are several rose distilleries there too.
Dominique had ‘googled’ the route to Troglodytes & Sarcophages and very successfully managed to get us there. Unfortunately it was only to discover that they were closed on Tuesdays!
However, this led us to an amazing find of a restaurant, Les Cathédrales de la Saulaie, close by. It is a restaurant in a towering cathedral-like cave that has a set menu of regional speciality dishes served with flatbreads from their wood oven, complete with an aperitif and wine. The aperitif was rosé wine with rose syrup and a strawberry liqueur. The regional specialties included mushrooms stuffed with walnuts and sausage, rilette de porc (the ‘pulled pork’ pâté we had the other night), chicken with rillaud (slow-cooked pork) and mushrooms with white beans, a selection of cheeses, a dessert of dehydrated apple rehydrated with lemon verbena sauce, served with verbena icecream, a carafe of local rose wine and a coffee to finish.
Feeling very replete, we then drive to the town of Chemillé-en-Anjou to have a look at the Jardin Camifolia. Chemillé is known as the capital of medicinal plants. Back in the 19th century when phylloxera devasted the grape vines, it was discovered that the environment was perfect for growing medicinal and other herbs. This provided alternative employment for the region. Over 600 ha of its land are used for cultivation. Chemillé was, and still is, renowned for its production of camomile, which represents half of its crops today.
The gardens are divided into themes: the garden of flavours and scents, the garden of local produce, the garden of medicinal and toxic plants, the garden of culinary flavours, the fibre and dye garden, and the botanical garden. Unfortunately it is too late in the season now for the bulk of the plants to be in full show but we do enjoy walking around and recognising many of the plants (including some that I have planted in my garden). There is also a greenhouse where more exotic plants like ylang-ylang, camphor and ginseng are growing (along with ones that happily grow outside in my garden at home such as citrus, ginger and lemongrass).
We then drive back to Angers, stopping to buy baguettes for breakfast on our walk home from the carpark. We are all still full from lunch and definitely don’t need anymore wine so we decide to just relax for the evening (and probably won’t be long out of bed).
Exploring the Angers Region in France
Day 3: Chateau d’Angers and Historic Quarter
Day 4: Exploring the Loire Valley to Cunault Abbey
Day 5: Troglodyte Village & the Mysteries of Falun
Day 6: Fontevraud Royal Abbey & Chateau du Brézé
Days 7-9: Angers, Markets & Old Town
Day 10: Troglodyte Restaurant & Medicinal Plants
Day 11: Béhaurd Island Village in Loire River
Day 12: Michelin-star Restaurant Degustation Lunch, Angers
Day 13: Day 13: Puy du Fou Historical Theme Park
Day 14: Le Thoureil, Ackerman Winery & Dolmen de Bagneaux
Day 15: Visit to Slate Museum, Trélazé
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