The Château de la Dorée. Official website: www.chateauladoree.com/

" His heart beating, the author of these lines was following a majestic drive flanked with beautiful trees, at the end of which he could catch sight of the facade of a small Chateau. It was there, behind the windows of this 18th gentilhommiere, the memories of Mata Hari's secret years away from Paris lay waiting." Sam Waagenaar, Mata Hari's biographer writing of his first arrival to Le Chateau de la Doree in 1932. When you pass through the front gates, and down the ancient and dignified drive, you too may feel similarly overwhelmed.

1530 - 1784:
The first written record of the Château de la Dorée dates back to the early 16th century. Indeed, "La Dorée" or "La Petite Dorée" was designated as a fiefdom on the 7th of November 1530 by Jean de Menou, Seigneur de Couzières, in favour of Pierre Forget, Seigneur de Cormier, Receveur Général desTailles, Maire et Capitaine Gouverneur de Tours.Between 1675 and 1750, the château belonged to the Desloges family, including François Desloges at the end of the 17th century, who had the title of Seigneur de la Voute et Maire de Tours. In 1759, the Château de la Dorée was sold to Olivier Hardy, Trésorier de France and in 1784 to Denis-Nicolas Foucault, Intendant Général des Iles de France et de Bourbon.

Honoré de Balzac, Alfred de Vigny, Béranger, Paul-Louis Courier and the famous doctor Bretonneau were frequent guests at the château:
At the beginning of the 19th century, La Dorée passed into the hands of the Comte Alexandre-Pierre Odart de Rilly. This aristocrat, born in 1778, narrowly avoided the guillotine during the French Revolution. He studied at the Ecole Polytechnique when it was founded and served in the artillery corps. Leaving military service, Comte Odart concentrated on his passion for the natural sciences. He became one of France's greatest wine experts and at la Dorée he constituted an important collection of different varieties of grapes from all over France. His well-known ampelographical studies caused him to be sent to Hungary in 1839 by Louis-Philippe, in order to study the wine-making techniques used for Tokay, which the French sovereign loved. He was a Knight of the Legion d'Honneur and was much involved in the social and cultural life of the Touraine region. Amongst his regular visitors at La Dorée were Honoré de Balzac, Alfred de Vigny, Béranger, Paul-Louis Courier and he famous doctor Bretonneau. After his death in 1866, his collection of grape varieties disappeared and even though nowadays there is no longer a vineyard at the château, the immediate area surrounding the property is home to the Noble-Joué vineyard, with a fine reputation for its rosé and Malvoisie (Pinot Gris).

Mata Hari:
At the beginning of the 20th century, we discover another famous name associated with the history of France : Mata Hari - the celebrated exotic dancer who was executed by the Allies in 1917 on suspicion of acting as a double agent for the Germans. During 1910 and 1911, she lived at the chateau, which had been rented from the Comtesse de La Taille-Trétinville by Mata Hari's lover the banker Xavier Rousseau. In the biography on Mata Hari that he published in 1965, Sam Waagenaar talks of his first impressions upon visiting La Dorée : "Fifty one years later, the authour of these lines, his heart beating rapidly, descended a long driveway flanked with beautiful trees, at the end of which he could see the façade of a small chateau. It was there, behind the 18th century windows, that the memory of Mata Hari's secret years still floated.".