Chinon with Children

Forest Adventure Course

About a 7 minute drive away, Saint-Benoît-la Forêt has a brilliant treetop adventure course in the shade of the forest. Courses vary from easy to very challenging and there are lots of zip lines. Suitable for children aged 5-50. Bring cash (it’s cash only) and a picnic. Opening times vary. Aside from tree top adventures, they do also sell ice creams and drinks. Good on a hot day as you’re mostly in the shade of the trees. Very well constructed.

Nail a few of the Châteaux

Particularly child-friendly ones include the Château de Chinon with its knights area and you can now also book an escape game to play there, in English or French: a series of conundrums to solve in otherwise private parts of the château. Purported to be well set up and great fun, you get the keys to parts of the chateau no-one else is allowed into (advance booking essential).

Don’t overlook fairytale Château de Ussé, (pictured) said to have inspired Charles Perrault's original Sleeping Beauty and indeed they retell the story here through figurine form. It’s our nearest château and slightly ‘off radar’ - recommended.

There are good outdoor playgrounds at Villandry with acres of gardens (pictured) that they can run around in (Villandry employ nine full-time gardeners). Château de Riveau hosts a two-day jousting event in the summer - they also have a good, summer-only restaurant, more info on that here.

Picture-perfect Château d’Azay-le-Rideau is one of the ‘smaller’ ones, so quite manageable. It also has a moat, so children deem it to be a ‘proper château’.

Lesser-known Château de l'Islette is also great for children.

If you want to go further a field to see the big guns, choose either Château de Chenonceau or Chambord - kids will only want to do one of them (there’s a boat trip that goes under the arches at Chenonceau which is fun).

Tennis

Then there is the option of tennis on the courts in Chinon (or we know a very good tennis coach who works out of nearby Ligré - just ask us and we can connect you).

Boats & Bikes

You can organise a boat trip on the Vienne (you can do a cruise and then have dinner on board, or bring your own picnic - read our boating page here) or you can hire a canoe or kayak. We can help with bike hire if you want to take advantage of the gentle La Loire À Vélo cycle path that run very near La Fuye. Try out the new Green Path that connects Chinon to Richelieu and has lots of ‘stations’ to stop at along the way (see CYCLING for more details).

Picnics

Take a picnic lunch and sit on the sandy riverbank while the children swim in the Vienne. WARNING the current is fairly strong - read our page on picnics and wild swimming here. There is a rope hanging from a tree that they can fling themselves into the river from and it’s a good spot from which to enter the water (you can also climb down the bank if you fancy a more sedate entry point

The Frog Pond

A short walk away from La Fuye is the old lavoir - where, historically, people used to gather to do their washing. It’s recently been landscaped and there is the chance to hop about over and through the gentle stream and - if you’re lucky - catch some frogs. Bring a net and a bucket (you can buy them from L’Eclerc). This is where you are headed. There are nearby picnic tables as well as a view of our local watercress production (you can buy it at Biocoop). The lavoir is also the starting point for a number of much longer local walks. See here for more info.

AND FINALLY…

There is an award-winning Zoo called Bioparc at Doue-la-Fountain, (there’s another one at Beauval but Bioparc is better); Le Petit Nétilly has a family fun park about 40 minutes away, or try Terra Botanica, in Angers, which is a garden-themed theme park.

Kids can have wakeboarding lessons in Mocontour; there is a trampoline centre in Saumur, or try out the huge inflatable water park on the lake at Lac d’Hommes - fun for children of all ages, whether 4 or 44!

Or take them to watch the ‘hippique’ racing (July and August only) in Chinon, with horses pulling chariots. Here’s last year’s clear winner! There are food and drink stalls and a good, local vibe (also see HORSE RIDING).