The crowning of Henry II, first of the Angevin kings, in 1154 marked the beginning of a long line of Plantagenet rulers that only came to an end with the death of Richard III in 1485. After the passing of his father in 1151, Henry acquired Normandy and Anjou and then doubled his French holdings the following year with his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine: the Plantagenet empire now extended from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees.

Although the Plantagenets were incessant travellers – Richard the Lionheart spent less than a year of his ten-year reign on the English side of the Channel – the Loire was their ancestral home. Our tour, set against some of France’s most pleasing countryside, will embrace Plantagenet destinations at the very heart of the Angevin empire: Poitiers, the ancient capital of Aquitaine, where Eleanor and Henry married in the twin-towered cathedral, and Loches, where the magnificent chateau was originally established by the counts of Anjou.

As we follow in the footsteps of the Plantagenets and their forebears, we will trace developments in castle and devotional architecture and admire buildings that represent the apogee of their age.

Awe-inspiring Fontevraud Abbey will soon become very familiar to us, for the Auberge St Lazare in the abbey grounds is the base for our tour. Founded in 1099 and generously endowed by Henry and Eleanor, Fontevraud is one of the most extensive monastic complexes in western Christendom. The abbey provided nursery education for King John and saw use as Eleanor’s retirement home – and it is here that we will discover the tombs of Eleanor, Henry and Richard the Lionheart.

The Auberge St Lazare, complete with 12th century chapel and cloister, is now a hôtellerie. Remodelled in the 17th century, it was brought up to modern standards of comfort at the end of the 20th century.