An easy run from Chaumont took us into Blois, where we intended to stay the night at the aire in the town. The French make it so easy for motorhomers, I have to wonder why councils in the UK can’t follow their example! We got parked up and wandered into town, had a stroll round the market and then up to the Chateau.

There were lots of furnished rooms to explore and the audio tour was very good. (Don’t take the histopad, we just couldn’t get it to work.) We learned a lot about French history, none of which I can remember now! As we looked out over the town from the parapets, I was bemused to see lots of people wearing cloaks and witches hats. The reason became clear as we continued our exploration of the chateau. There was a Harry Potter themed experience on the ground floor of one of the wings. Children and adults, all in costume were flocking in to take part. They all seemed to be having a lot of fun. Too bad I’d left my broomstick in the moho!

The house of magic is opposite the chateau and offers optical illusion magic shows daily. When we were there, there were dragons reaching out from the windows of the house!

After the chateau we wandered further round the town and were intrigued by an art installation up a flight of steps. From a distance it looked like a solid picture, then as you got near you could see that the picture had been cut into strips and affixed to the risers of the steps. Very creative and transformed a boring flight of steps!

We walked back to the moho for dinner ( thank goodness for the aire, a 15 minute walk from the town). After that, a leisurely stroll to see the sound and light show at the Chateau. A small word of warning if you decide to go – the commentary is in French (obviously), but we hadn’t been told that we could have a headset with the commentary in English. We did manage to follow enough of the commentary to make sense of it and the video projections on the walls of the Chateau were amazing. It told the story of the Chateau and significant occupants bringing the history to life. If I were to go again, I’d make sure I got the commentary in English.

An hour later we returned to the moho and settled in for a good night’s sleep before setting off to Val de Blois next day……….