The extravagant Château de Chambord, a hunting lodge for François I, is the largest of the Loire châteaux, boasting 440 rooms
The upside-down apple tart is quintessentially French – but one village in particular lays claim to its invention, saying that it was born in the tiny village of Lamotte-Beuvron when the Tatin sisters pulled it from their oven. Their name still clings to the dish, but every bakery and bistro throughout the château-strewn Loire Valley has a version of the apple and sugar-soaked tarte Tatin.
