Saturday was spent wandering round admiring the spectacular grounds of La Clayette's famous chateau, which is a privately owned chateau by the De Noblet family since 1722 and so is very rare to gain access. But as the annual horse riding event -
Le concours hippique National - was taking place in the grounds we were able to get close up to the chateau and marvel in it's beauty!
The weather did not disappoint and luckily I managed to grab a seat in the shade as 34°C is a bit hot for my British complexion!!
Le concours hippique National started in 1951, and each year is held in the chateau grounds. It represents one of the qualifying rounds for the
France PRO and France PRO 2 championships.
Before the horse jumping began I was able to chat briefly with some of the riders Ludivine Mazuir who was riding Romaine de la Bresse, Nina Marchand on L'élite du chene, and Adeline Comte who was riding Lysa d'Ecula. They had ridden the day before and Adeline had won second place, but today's placings started from zero again so there was all to play for!
The atmosphere was fantastic with stands of food and drink and music to one side of the competition area and the judges stand at the other.
The three riders I spoke to did very well, and I thoroughly enjoyed the day relaxing in the magnificent surroundings and admiring the horses and their riders.
On the rare occasions that the chateau is open to the public I definitely suggested a visit!
 |
| Chateau de la Clayette |
 |
| View over the chateau's lake |
 |
| View of the main residence |
 |
| Turrets and towers |
 |
| Adeline Comte, Ludivind Mazuir, and Nina Marchand |
 |
| Horse jumping in action |
 |
| Very impressive close up! |
No comments:
Post a Comment