troglodyte village (rochemenier)

When visiting the Loire Valley you may get a little chateaux-ed out. This is an interesting break that is something completely different. I wasn't sure what to expect. Apparently these are man-made caves, carved into the rock when the chateaux were built. Later, people moved into these caves and made them into homes, which were occupied into the 1930s.

We drove to Rochemenier as part of a day trip from Chinon and found the setup very professional, well managed and very informative. There were plenty of shady trees as the weather was very hot that day and when inside the buildings, it was very cool.

Well worth visiting for a couple of hours. V informative and the kids loved exploring. Highly recommended and good value. Very friendly staff too.

Great day out , very intresting place made extra special by a great meal in the cave , definately wor ha visit

Went today on a cloudy day,visited the church which was basic and then the troglodyte caves.It was 5.50e to enter,given a brochure in English and then completed the self guided tour.It took about 1 hour,and was interesting.The best part was the unexpected former underground chapel,which was huge,not to be missed.There is a small kiosk selling drinks and ice creams.In the village are some restaurants and places for tea.Looking over the walls of other residents houses there were caves all over.A pleasant day out if you are not too far away.

Visited with 12 year old son who'd got a bit bored with the sunshine and pool! A really interesting and different type of attraction. You follow a self guided tour - English language version available - and visit the homes of the families with artefacts set out as they would have been at the turn of the 20th century. Son was given a children's quiz which maintained his interest (again in English) but provided some challenge as the answers were to found in French.We spent about an hour and a half exploring the site. We also visited the medieval church and strolled around the village, spotting other cave dwellings over garden walls. There was plenty of parking available and a tea room close to the museum.

Excellent and informative, many real artefacts and tools, including photos of former inhabitants. Very clear and tidy, nice flowers on window sills and alcoves, friendly staff, good value. Also reasonable priced drinks and snacks. Highly recommended.

Interesting but most of the information in france ! How is it possible that the knowledge of other language is so bad in France!?

Visited in April 2013 with 4 kids. Did not know what to expect but had read about these troglodyte villages to had to see one. The staff were very helpful and the admission was relatively cheap and once inside the place the kids could just wander about and explore. As adults we found it quite interesting and the kids really enjoyed it. If you are in the area you should try and see one of these villages as they are a remarkable example of a bygone era and not something that you will find in many other places.

The village is a very interesting piece of history and was well laid out. Most of exhibits had French labels but we were given an English guide leaflet and most exhibits were self explanatory anyway. We enjoyed our visit and learnt a lot, we sent a good 1.5 hours there. Glad we went.

The village is quite small and has limited exhibits. An hour was sufficient for us to see the village and its exhibits. In terms of value for money it was probably just about OK considering small entry fee.

This place is out of the way and not easy to find but our GPS got us there. My husband thought it was hokey but I found the whole idea of carving out your personal living space from rock a fascinating idea! Glad I went!

Decent little piece of history in the cave dwellings at Rochemenier. Lots of interesting artefacts in each of the rooms following a logical numbered route, the impressive church at the end was particularly good. Could do with some English signs and explanations but otherwise a good value 1.5 hours attraction.

We visited this area last year but trying to find it in a hurry passing through, we came across Doue la Fontaine instead where we saw a troglodyte cave where the limestone was used for roman sarcophagi. We were also given a booklet to read all about these caves and managed to get a tourist leaflet about places in the area. Doue la Fontaine is also famous for its roses and rose products. Therefore, on this occasion we were determined to find Rochemenier for comparison. The latter is a lovely and fascinating cave complex. You have to approach it from the car park down a dusty lane, past the interesting little church and down a flight of stone steps. Once into the cave area, you pay your entrance fee and you can buy a guide book. Photographs are permissible everywhere. The man on the desk spoke very good English and showed us where to start. We followed the numbered map in the guide book to see all the caves which were for different purposes, people living at different times, cattle, even a church and meeting hall. The area was not huge and easy to get round although impossible if you were disabled. There were photographs to show how they lived and artefacts - mainly farming equipment but also furniture etc. One cave near the entrance / exit showed many photographs of cave dwellings around the world which was really interesting. In the main square of these cave dwellings were modern toilets and a gift shop for rose products, jam, books, postcards, toys etc. (Unfortunately, the man in the gift shop didn't spoke English but with my limited French we got by). These were built into the rock and did not detract from the overall atmosphere. Once back at the entrance / exit, the man selling the tickets also sold refreshments, hot and cold drinks, plus madeleine cakes, ice-creams and chocolate. It was quite busy when we went and must get many tourists in the summer months so be prepared to find the car park full if you don't go early or late to avoid the crowds.

I had not done enough homework as I thought this site was from a more distant past. As you wandered the site, it became clear that it was in active use up until maybe the early or mid 20th century. Imagining living here during the 20th century just seemed sort of backward. I know I am sounding judgmental here. The tour consists of a printed brochure. The brochure does a very good job describing what is there, but not much about why someone would live this way. We had lots of questions and no one to whom we could address them. Having a guide could have made this much more interesting.