More Than Sketching a Pretty Chateau: The Making of a Creative Renaissance in the Loire Valley

I first visited the Loire Valley over forty years ago, as a teenager (yes, that is me in the photos above with my parents.) Like many people encountering it for the first time, I saw fairy tales. Castles. Queens. Kings. Enormous châteaux rising from the landscape as if they had simply always belonged there. My understanding was wonderfully naïve. I wasn’t thinking about history, politics, power, or why any of it existed. I simply saw beauty and created stories around it.

Now, forty years later, I’m just days away from hosting my first creative retreat in this very same location of the Loire. I'm returning to that same sense of wonder—but with far more layers.

Creating one of my Wanderlust creative experiences always begins the same way: I develop a slight obsession with a place. Then comes the deep dive. The questions. The research. The repeated visits. The walking and rewalking of streets, gardens, museums, cafés, and corners until I understand not just what’s beautiful, but why it matters. The Loire has become exactly that for me.

What I once saw simply as castles and grandeur, I now see as a living intersection of art, history, culture, craftsmanship, and imagination. The French Renaissance unfolded here in extraordinary ways. Royalty built their pleasure residences not simply to display wealth and power, but artistry. Gardens reflected order and control. Decorative arts flourished. Tapestries, ceramics, food traditions, wine, and centuries of French culture are woven into this region.

And then there’s the modern Loire—which fascinates me just as much. This isn’t a museum piece or a fairy tale frozen in time. It’s a living place, full of everyday French life, local rhythms, working artisans, bustling markets, and people building lives alongside centuries of history.

When crafting one of my creative tours, I don’t want guests to simply see the sights. I want them to experience a place creatively—to understand its textures, stories, contradictions, and inspirations in a way that feels accessible and personal.

So yes, there have been reconnaissance missions. Multiple ones. Revisiting châteaux I first saw four decades ago. Exploring gardens in different seasons. Hunting through Paris paper shops for textures and ephemera. Collecting vintage postcards. Photographing details that will become collage materials. Thinking through not just where we’ll go but orchestrating how creativity will emerge from each experience.

Because that’s what I love most: translating discovery into creative experiences. A lesson about queens in Renaissance France, garden compositions & still life studies, Loire wines with art in mind, and of course journaling on the go as we explore the châteaux. Piece by piece, we’ll create our own creative Renaissance.

So after nearly a year in the making, it’s finally time.

I’m heading off not just on a trip, but into a bespoke creative experience designed to help people see differently, make confidently, and come home with a deeply personal souvenir of their time in the Loire.

I’ll be sharing glimpses once I return—during the week, I want to be fully present with this wonderful group. And if this sounds like the kind of experience you’d love to be part of someday, I’d be delighted to welcome you on a future Creative Wanderlust journey.