When I was pregnant with twins, people would say, "You're not going to be able to travel anymore." But I proved them all wrong.
16.12.2024 - 23:03 / cntraveler.com
The drive south through Normandy was familiar. Or at least it would have been if not for the thunderclaps and warm sideways rain. While we waited at a rest stop for the weather to ease up, my husband, Andrew, and I showed our sons, ages two and five, pictures from the last trip we took abroad together before they were born, when we traveled on the same road through western France. We'd had a bag of cherries on the center console and the heater going full blast in a rented Morgan convertible. Last year we decided to re-create that journey, punctuated with overnights at some of the grandest chateaus in all the land, this time with our two small chaps. There's a hidden Beauty and the Beast quality to the setting of Hotel Château du Grand-Lucé, our first stop of the trip, in the Loire Valley, about an hour north of Tours. The approach to the 80-acre estate is through a brief, sleepy village, Le Grand-Lucé, and a locked gate that obscures the sight of the 18th-century limestone mansion inside. As we spilled out, punch-drunk after nine hours in the car, swallows were climbing and diving around the slate roof. The four of us stood there, chins tipped, ensorcelled by the place.
The circular pool at Hotel Château du Grand-Lucé
In the mornings Andrew and I ate poached eggs and salt-crusted potatoes at an outdoor table facing the central allée of the formal gardens while the boys plumbed the mazelike box hedges, looking for frogs the size of pennies. On a lower tier of land, the jardin exotique—planted with roses, crocosmia, and delphiniums—is dominated by a scene-stealing circular swimming pool that's rimmed by a thick lawn and blue-and-white-striped umbrellas. There's a closet nearby, full of foam noodles and inflatable inner tubes, and once the boys sussed that out, most of my ideas for excursions were sunk. I'd say our vacation at that point was 15% culture and 85% cannonballs.
The kids ruled the roost just as much at our next stop, Domaine des Etangs Auberge in the eastern reaches of the Charente countryside. In the attic of this fairy-book castle, we found a wood-beamed game room with dress-up boxes, Foosball, and a billiards table. A chic outdoor playground, complete with trampolines and a zip line, is next to the potager garden, within shouting distance of parents sitting at dinner tables. The marshmallow roasting made it feel as if we were bunking at an unthinkably upscale summer camp. This impression was only strengthened when we took the kids to a local lakeside beach, Plage de la Guerlie, where you can rent canoes by the hour and loll in the sand.
Modern pops in a guest room at Domaine des Etangs Auberge
The author’s sons, Kit, two, and Henry, five, in Saint- Émilion
It was obvious by then that
When I was pregnant with twins, people would say, "You're not going to be able to travel anymore." But I proved them all wrong.
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