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If you're beginning to feel peeved that only dead royals had all the fun, take yourself to the Fraise-Or, 3km east of Chenonceaux, just beyond Chisseaux on the road to MONTRICHARD : it's an old-fashioned distillery (Easter-Sept daily 9-11.30am & 2-6pm; 17F/?2.59), complete with shiny copper stills, that specializes in fruit liqueurs. The visit includes a degustation of three of their eighteen liqueurs and eaux-de-vie , based on various fruits, herbs, spices, nuts and, best of all, rose petals. Montrichard itself is one of those laid-back market towns with its full complement of medieval and Renaissance buildings, plus a ruined fortress , of which just the keep remains. Its Romanesque church was where the disabled 12-year-old princess, Jeanne de Valois, who would never be able to have children, married her cousin the Duc d'Orleans, who subsequently became King Louis XII after the unlikely death of Charles VIII at Amboise. Politics dictated that he marry Charles VIII's widow, Anne of Brittany, so poor Jeanne was divorced and sent off to a nunnery in Bourges. Three kilometres to the east of Montrichard, in BOURRE , are the quarries for the famous chateau-building stone that gets whiter as it weathers. Some of the caves are now used to cultivate mushrooms, a peculiar process that you can witness at the Caves Champignonnieres , 40 rte des Roches (guided visits daily April-Oct at 10am, 11am & hourly 2-5pm; 28F/?4.27).
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