Lonely Planet India - August 2016

J

UST an hour north of Paris looms a rather

pretty castle – Chantilly once again is great

for both adults and kids. Apart from its easy

accessibility from Paris it’s also a great

place at which to stay because you finally

get that sense of being in a nicer Europe

that isn’t a city: it’s green with low hills rolling like

well-manicured lawns space to breathe even horses

and flowers. Splurge and stay at the Château Mont

Royal Tiara which provides quite sumptuous luxury

amid all this pleasantness being itself in the middle

of a little wood. And Château Chantilly is beautiful:

a jumble of towers everything in that lovely

combination of creamy stone and blue-grey slate

roofing set on the water with seas of green in every

direction. The big specialty here is horses: this

is a professional stables but along with sights of

glorious thoroughbreds you can also head inside

to a horsey museum to a sort-of petting zoo and

to a sweet little pony show meant for kids. This one

features ponies of several sizes from almost-horse

to Labrador; it’s the little ones you have to watch out

for. One of them has clearly decided that since he’s

dog-sized a dog is what he must be and has made

it his life’s mission to run around the circus ring

nipping at the heels of the ones trying to put up a show

and generally making an adorable pest of himself.

The castle itself has more for adults than

children from a glorious art gallery that houses

the second-largest art collection in France after

the Louvre to a sepia stained-glass window that tells

in some 40 softly glowing panels the Greek myth

of Psyche. However it also contains some lovely

statues of dogs (hey I’d have liked these as a kid)

and a little cottage nearby where kids can help make

Chantilly cream which is the kind of thing you want

to roll around in like one of the castle’s dogs.

Drive an hour or so north and you get to Albert

which is a touch more sombre but fascinating.

This town is the site of a World War I museum

and it brings this rather ghastly event to life.

The thing about World War I is it lacks the visuals

of the Second World War or Vietnam it lacks the

dramatic villains and clear Good/ Evil poles and so

it's a difficult one to keep in mind. Here though you

really see it. The museum is built into the trenches

that formed such a massive part of this war and

depicts the Battles of the Somme Ypres and others

that were slaughterhouses on single dramatic days

and steady cold wet murderers of life and spirit the

rest of the time. Here you see what life would have

been like in these semi-underground warrens and

it isn’t a pretty picture. First you’d wait shivering

Chantilly

Albert

&^

Amiens

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PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES (1) MAHESH SAGARI (2 3 5) © HORIZON IMAGES/ MOTION/ ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (4) FACING PAGE: © BRYANT NICOLAS/ SAGAPHOTO.COM/ ALAMY PHOTOS

EASY EUROPE FRANCE FOR FAMILIES