ANET – NEAR DREUX
4th May 2018:
CHARTRES ROAD HAS SQUARE TREES
LEAVING GIVERNY, we took the A13 for CHARTRES. The road soon turned into the A928. It took us through mostly unremarkable agricultural land. In the town of Dreux, we saw again a sight that had intrigued us on previous visits.
As the main road passed through the centre of the little town, we were flanked on each side by an avenue of trees trimmed like identical cubes. They are not uncommon in this part of France. Admittedly they are novel; but somehow the allure in sacrificing their original beauty escapes us. ‘Law and Order’ gone mad, to our romantic minds.
ANET – A LONELY ROYAL PALACE
Thirty-five minutes down the road we HAD to stop. The road widened. In front of us, on the right-hand side of the road, was a most enormous, imposing building in the Classical style. A palace?
We pulled in by the kerb opposite. I was by this time desperate for a loo; a road sign indicated one just round the corner. By the time I’d hoofed it round and found it closed I was near to panic. With relief, we spotted a bar open on the other side of a wide stretch of gravel where we were parked.
DIANE THE HUNTRESS – DUCHESS OR GODDESS?
One customer sat outside, and the proprietor looked startled as I dashed for his ‘WC’ at the back. Luckily, Graham followed me in. Soon we too were sitting outside under an awning, sipping citron pressé. The gentleman quaffing his drink informed us that we were in Anet. The ‘palace’ was in fact, a hunting lodge, built for Diane de Poitiers, a great French royal beauty of 16 century – our English Elizabethan period.
ANET HUNTING LODGE – MORE THAN A CHATEAU
The architect was one Philibert de l’Orme, who obviously had in mind that the chateau, at the bottom of the Valley of the Eure, was at the top of the Royal Forest of the Hunt.
ANET – ROYAL STAG HOLDS HOUNDS AT BAY – HUNTRESS SURVEYS
A magnificent stag tops the entrance arch, flanked by four baying hunting dogs. In an alcove beneath, Diana the Huntress is stretched out, lounging, surrounded by her prey.
ANET PALACE – HUDDLE OF BUILDINGS – IS ONE AN OBSERVATORY?
There were several dwellings behind the walls and the large frontal buildings. One had a very graceful dome; it looked like an observatory. There was a range of housing, and then at the far end was an enormous ‘mausoleum’; a mini-palace in itself. Clearly, the lovely Diane had been held in high esteem.
ANET PALACE IS IN DIANE’S DEER PARK – OPEN FOR ALL TO ENJOY
It was hard to tear ourselves away. We decided not to go through the wide arch that led into the grounds and the deer park beyond. Several local mums came out pushing buggies and chatting.
EXPLORING ANET?
We climbed into the car, wondering what the rest of Anet would be like. Just as we passed the chateau we had to turn a corner – and that was it! We already had left Anet behind…
ANET – CHARTRES ROAD AGAIN
By this time the temperature had climbed, so we decided to press on to our booked bed and breakfast outside Chartres.
Text by – Jackie Usher, SWWJ. (aka author Debbie Darkin, & ‘Graham Liverpool’ on Trip Advisor.)
Photographs by – Graham Usher.
