The Kennels and Trophy Room

Over a hundred English foxhounds and 2,000 sets of stag antlers

The Hurault family's passion for venery is as much a part of Cheverny as its painted ceilings. The kennels beside the château house over 120 English foxhounds maintained for the estate's working hunt, and the adjacent Trophy Room displays the antlers of more than 2,000 stags taken over the centuries — the collection is surprisingly affecting, a wall-to-wall record of the estate's long history that sits oddly against the château's refined French classicism.

Feeding time for the pack (la soupe des chiens) takes place each afternoon and is included in the château entry ticket. The dogs are well-trained but the enthusiasm with which they devour their meal is genuinely extraordinary to watch.

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The hunt at Cheverny, the Equipage de Cheverny, is one of the oldest working hunts in the Loire Valley and still goes out on horseback several times a season. At feeding time — usually around 5pm — all 120 dogs are released simultaneously and fed in a frenzied scrum that takes about three minutes to consume a day's worth of meat. The spectacle, called the soupe des chiens, draws a crowd every afternoon the château is open.