Who needs Paris when you've got Anjou?

“Bedrooms? I don’t know – I’ve never counted them!”

She wasn’t being arrogant. She’s just like all the residents of Anjou I met, startlingly unshowy about what she’s got.

During our visit to this 15th century pile (the tallest chateau in France by the way, but who’s counting?), this cheerfully unguillotined family showed us around their pad.

Gold-leaf ceilings to outbling Da Vinci. A Belle Epoque theatre, loaned to local art groups. Pictures of Gerard Depardieu, Roger Moore and the Queen Mother larking about in the 200-acre grounds. Y’know, just the usual.

The family even offer bedrooms, lavishly decorated from the days of King Louis XIII, on a B&B basis and you can imagine the jaws hitting the floor when American guests rock up. They must think they’ve died and gone to tourist heaven.

Anjou is not a region that shouts its charms from the rooftops. Yet it is not only accessible (Rail Europe offers a reasonable service from St Pancras and British Airways are about to offer flights), it is jam-packed with cultural, historical and gastronomic pleasures and treasures.

And, once there, you don’t need a car, leaving you free to hop on the Angers tram, pedal the stunning Loire a Velo route or simply ‘flaneur’ (a new word I learned, meaning stroll).

Better still, this leaves you free to indulge in the alcoholic delights for which the region is famed.

Your flaneuring might be a bit wonky, but you’ll love it.

First tipple should be Angers’ Cointreau distillery. The fragrant and, these days, sexy, digestif was created in 1820 and still sells 15 million bottles worldwide every year.

The smell of this place is divine. Not only that, but Edouard Cointreau was the father of modern advertising, devising eye-popping characters and images that are a marvel to behold. However, because in France the rules governing alcohol advertising are incredibly strict, this exhibition is very much ‘for your eyes only’, which makes me want to offer my services as a Cointreau ambassador like Dita Von Teese.

Truth is, I’ve always been a vodka girl, but after this visit, let me tell you, the future’s orange.

With ice, without, in Cosmopolitans, on your cornflakes... I’ve yet to find a combination that doesn’t work.

In a typical embarrassment of riches, Angers is also the birthplace of the Emile Giffard distillery, which stirred up Menthe Pastille before expanding to liqueurs and syrups of every conceivable flavour.

You can sniff and taste various flavours blooming over your tastebuds one by one, like an adult Verucca Salt.

Wine buffs will be in their element too on a visit to the Anjou vineyards, including the Domaine du Closel with a terroir mounted majestically on a slope of slate which lends the grape a mineral quality.

The beautiful spot hosts moonlit poetry readings and visitors are welcome to pop by and knock on the door for a guided tour of the vineyards. Evelyne de Jessey-Pontbriand is the fourth generation of female vintners showing the world how it’s done with her award-winning Savennieres whites.

My highlight on dropping in was meeting her mother, Marie-Michelle Bazin de Jessey, who was the first female president of a French wine district, which I bet ruffled a few feathers in its day. Now a spritely soul in her 80s, she still indulges in a bottle of the chateau’s finest of an evening and is the best possible advert for it.

Nearby, Terra Botanica comes into full bloom in spring and has – among other pickings – a talking tree and a ride in a nutshell.

This region is known as the Garden of France and this inventive park offers a great day out for gardeners, families and tots with a top-quality eaterie on site, bien sur.

Slap-bang in the middle of Angers itself is the original castle, built by young King Louis XI as a fortress to keep the Brits out.

And now they’re welcomed back with open arms to admire the later home of the Dukes of Anjou, complete with terraces and gardens.

From the top you can admire this breathtaking cobbled city, which is so tastefully layered and tended that it makes our Farrow and Ball towns look like a box of kids’ crayons.

Inside the walls is the star attraction – the Tapestry of The Apocalypse from 1375.

This is a revelation – literally. In a dimly lit cavern you can admire this woven masterpiece depicting the final book of the Bible 104 metres in length.

The devil is in the detail with jokey borders and awe-inspiring many-headed beasts with a distinctly English look.

I’m scratching my head as to why this tapestry is not more famous – it is infinitely more beautiful than the Bayeux and is the largest medieval tapestry in the world.

To mirror this epic creation, Jean Lurcat’s more recent Le Chant du Monde depicts a woven world shattered by two world wars and is on show at L’Hopital Saint-Jean – a riverside architectural gem which was a sick bay for 800 years.

The way the French value their arts, so beautifully presented, lit and protected is a lesson to us all. For sculpture fans, the Gallery of David d’Angers takes pride of place in the stunningly restored Toussaint abbey, with a glass roof and loads of attitude.

In a youthful university city, there are plenty of hangouts – the new Villa Toussaint offering world cuisine and K9 – a church converted into an eaterie/nightclub.

People of all ages in this city seem to have their priorities straight, what with the culture, effortless travel and food.

Among the most astonishing meals we had were the Best Western Hotel – where the cheese course alone was an education – and the Chateau de la Perriere (also a golf resort and fabulously restored wedding venue) whose 25 Euro a head menu knocked my English socks off, not least with a chocolate tart that I would walk over hot coals for.

And, I might be mellowed by all the melt-in-the-mouth coquilles St Jacques and fillet de boeuf at every turn, but they are a genial lot, this Anjou crowd.

As we piled in and out of restaurants, communicating in distinctly DelBoy French, they all smiled sweetly and served up extra chips.

Funky, fragrant and full of charm – who needs Paris when you’ve got Angers?

FACTFILE Return fares from London to Angers start at £89 in standard class. For bookings visit raileurope.co.uk or call 0844 848 4070 Office de Tourisme d’Angers, angersloiretourisme.com Chateau de la Perriere, Avrille. Call +33 02412747 or visit chateaudelaperriere.com Chateau de Brissac, chateau-brissac.fr Hotel D’Anjou (and restaurant), Angers, call +33 0241211211 or visit hotelanjou.fr Terra Botanica, call +33 0241250000 or visit terrabotanica.fr Espace Cointreau, remy-cointreau.com Giffard, Avrille, giffard.com And Brasserie de la Gare, Angers (best chips in the world), +33 0241884857