The view from a wicker basket sailing over storybook chateaus of the Loire Valley is as close as you might expect to get to many of these bastions of French aristocracy. And it is spectacular.

But, if you stay in one of the few privately owned chateaus open to lodgers in the region, you can get even closer.

For a soupcon of life as a pre-Revolutionary aristocrat a stay at Chateau de la Barre is a fantastic place to begin.

It has been owned by the same family since 1404 and the oldest part of the faithfully maintained building dates back to the 1300s.

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Heirlooms line the walls and mantelpieces of the bedrooms - each lavishly and individually decorated. On waking in your Louis XV bed you may momentarily wonder whether you fell asleep in a gallery.

But owners Count and Countess de Vanssay never once make you feel like you are staying in a museum.

The chateau is their home and while you are there it is yours too. The first night dinner - a four course delight including cheese from the chateau’s farm – will give you plenty to talk about for the remainder of your stay.

Guy and Marnie de Vanssay work hard to make it seem effortless as they entertain complete strangers as friends.

Their tales of ancestral derring-do during the Revolution and secret escape routes beneath the dry-moat make the chateau’s history ring into life and give guests a sense of pleasing continuity with the past.

The next morning over fresh croissants and jam made from raspberries picked in the garden, your hosts will find out what you want to do during your two or three days.

Their local knowledge is invaluable and they can tailor make your trip depending on whether you want to see castles, taste wine, explore on foot, by car or in a balloon. Or, if you prefer, they will leave you to your own devises with a plethora of guidebooks and welcome you back in the evening to hear how you got on.

And there are plenty of things to do in the valley of kings which provided the backdrop for films like the Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask. Drifting over the line of the Loire river on a hot air balloon flight is just one of them, but probably the most memorable.

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