The region technically titled Centre is also known as Centre-Val de Loire and as such causes confusion as it so closely overlaps in name and landscape with Pays de la Loire. Centre battled with the Ministry for the Interior to gain the name Loire to promote tourism which, in many ways it deserves, as the Centre department contains most of the Loire chateaux. Unfortunately it failed to gain Loire in its region name but tends to add it on for purposes of tourism. Hence the boundaries of Pays de la Loire and Centre merge and descriptions of each department can apply to the other. At Healey Fox we recommend that to get a feel of Centre you also read our description of Pays de la Loire.

Centre combines three provinces, Orleans with the departments of Loire. Eure and Loir et Cher, Berry with departments of Cher and Indre and Touraine otherwise known as Indre et Loire. At Healey Fox we specialise mainly in Indre et Loire with a few properties also in Loir et Cher. We chose Indre et Loire as it has the most beautiful properties imaginable, small chateaux, manors and hunting lodges. Houses for sale in Indre et Loire are

Centre is in the centre of northern France and is split in the middle by the Loire valley. It is situated south west of Paris and extends to the northern boundaries of Limousin and Auvergne. It is a department of chateaux and farmland. Large cereal growing farms give us the fields of golden corn in the north of the department which then give place to fields of sunflowers and rapeseed to the south and to the extensive vineyards producing the famous Loire wines. There is some beef and dairy farming throughout the department and flowers and apple orchards along the river valley. The landscape of Centre is reasonably flat which produces those amazing long distance views and big skies.