Sleeping Beauty's Castle

This was The Ussey Chateau- or the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Not the one the castle in the Disney movie is based on (that one is on the Rhine I think). The man who wrote Sleeping Beauty stayed in this castle around the time he wrote the story- so it is said this is what he was thinking of when he wrote it. And since Sleeping Beauty is my favorite princess we had to go.

It was on of the most charming of the places we visited. And it had a moat! I also loved the courtyard- the roses and I was a little sad that we were a little too early for the hydrengeas.

The best part was how much this place reveled in the cheeseyness of Sleeping Beauty. Music from the Disney movie was piped through out the half of the castle that was for SB. You were allowed to just wander around peering in rooms with scenes from the movies set up with mannequins. It was WONDERFUL. One of the rooms had lots of glitter- tons of it. And just to make it a little crazier apparently every year the castle hosts a historical weekend where people wear a different decade's clothing. And so some random rooms just had people wearing clothes from the twenties or the 1830s just scattered among the Sleeping Beauty panoramas. Very strange and enjoyable. You also toured a more traditional wing and the family still leaves in the third wing.

These wheat fields were on the way to this castle. I loved how the wild flowers were mixed into the fields. Just lovely and magical.

The road to the Ussey Chateau.

I found these guys in the crazy wing- very funny.

There was also a charming little chapel. I really loved this Madonna made of Florentine Ceramic. I love Florentine ceramic a great deal and this was a charming little find in the French countryside. I wondered about the woman who commissioned this piece. Did she travel to Italy? What other things did she collect? Or did she just get this because she saw one like it at her sister's home? Note- I assume it was ordered by a woman.