Château de Montpoupon The Loire Valley

Idyllically situated amid rolling countryside near Céré-la-Ronde, this turreted château, furnished by the family in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has an intimate, lived-in feel. The private apartments, kitchen and dining room (with a sumptuously set table) give a sense of the lives lived here a century ago. In the outbuildings, 30 rooms house one of France's best museums of château-based hunting, with riding tack, sketches and photos that evoke aristocratic hunts of yesteryear. Signs are in French and English.