A Tapestry Shop and a Tea Room in Blois

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I’m in the train again, going back to Paris and my shuttered-up apartment. But on Fridays, the workmen go home early so I won’t have to put up with the pneumatic drill for too long. Then on Monday, we leave for Australia for five weeks. We haven’t been for three years. Australia is a long way away! We’re having a stopover in Hong Kong on the way there and back. I can no longer do the 20-hour journey in one stretch. When I first left, 37 years ago, it took over 30 hours, with a one-hour stop in an airport every three hours so they could fuel up. The airports all look the same;  only the people behind the counters of the duty-free stores give any indication of the local population and customs. Now it’s a mere 20 hours.

Blois Castle on the street side

But yesterday afternoon I was still in Blois so I went into the city for some last-minute shopping. It was a glorious day. The beautiful weather is holding up, just as we are about to go, of course. My first stop was a little souvenir shop in the street next to the castle recommended to me by my friend Françoise, who tells everyone she found me in the street – which is quite true, as you may remember from an earlier post. The woman behind the counter and another woman who seemed to be overseeing the shop in some way kept up a constant banter. It always amazes me to see how sales assistants ignore you completely. At least it gave me time to decide what to buy …

My next stop was quite a different experience – a family-owned tapestry shop called Langlois just a few doors on. I wandered in and could see no one about but a very pleasant and helpful man soon arrived and gave me information about the tapestries. What I thought to be a very modern collection of cushion covers is actually based on details from the beautiful mediaeval Apocalypse tapistry in Angers. Another series are long Art Deco panels, selling for about 500 euros. Some beautiful traditional panels go for around 1000 euros. There are also carpet bags, purses, jewellery and ornamental items of various shapes and sizes. I could have bought a lot of things in that shop had money not been a consideration!

My last visit was to « Les Forges du Château », a lunch/tea room/cellar/local speciality shop where my gîte guests, Sandy and Will, had had a very positive lunch experience the day before. Newly opened in June, it has a a small outside eating area and an upstairs area that ressembles a private living room and looks out onto the castle opposite, a shop with many original items and produce, a cellar in two parts – one that stocks local wines (free tasting on request) and a wonderful 15th century cellar downstairs with vintage bottles behind iron grids.

The restaurant/tea room, which is open until about 8 pm, offers an interesting selection of sandwiches, salads and hot dishes, at prices ranging from 5 to 15 euros, with desserts to follow. I will definitely be trying it out when we go back to Blois in October.

Langlois Tapestries, 1 rue de la Voûte du Château, 41000 BLOIS, + 33 (0)2 54 78 04 43,                  langlois-blois@waadoo.fr
 Opening Times
Monday to Saturday 10am  until noon
& 2.30 pm until 6pm
Sunday and public holidays – by appointment
 
Les Forges du Château
21 Place du Chateau
41000 Blois
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11 thoughts on “A Tapestry Shop and a Tea Room in Blois”

  1. Have a good trip (well…as good as you can on that horrible journey…) We have taken to stopping over in Korea – it breaks the journey almost exactly halfway (with a free hotel if you fly with one of the Korean airlines) and Asian airlines have more legroom than any of the others (curiously enough). We like Korea, so it suits us very well. Incheon airport has won airport of the year several years in a row now, and deservedly – it’s the one airport I would willingly spend some time in. I’ve only been in the current HK airport once, when it had been open about a week. I spotted Richard Branson there.

  2. I’m very fond of tapestries. I’ve seen some fabulous modern ones at the museum in Aubusson and our local Boussac castle is famous as being the place where the La Dame et la Licorne tapestries were found. We only have a copy of one of them down here – the originals were whisked off to Paris and I hope to get to see them some day.
    Have a safe and happy trip.

    1. We have a small tapestry that I received as a wedding present, taking from one of the tapestries in the Cluny Museum which also houses the Dame et la Licorne tapestries. They are quite lovely. I hope you get to see them some day too.

  3. Thanks for the Korean tip. We are going via Hong Kong because I wanted to capitalise on my Asia Miles from the last trip and get an upgrade, but I would have had to pay much more for our airfares. I can remember the old airport where you literally flew between the skyscrapers. It was pretty scary!

  4. I’ve flown in to the old HK airport too – a fairly uninspiring place inside.

    The Cluny is well worth a visit – to see la Dame et la licorne of course, but many other fabulous objects. It’s one of my favourites in Paris. If you are interested in tapestries, the Gobelin works would also be worth a visit (also in Paris).

      1. Happy I gave you Langlois’address ! I’ll try soon “les forges du Chateau !
        Happy also to met you ! Even in the street, we got good friends !
        Have nice holidays in Australia !

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