Cave des Roches

Useful Information

Location:	Bourré, 15 km from Chenonceau, 20 km from Amboise.
Open:	Cave Champignonnière: Mid-MAR to mid-NOV. Carrière et la Ville Souterraine: All year. Both: Mid-MAR to mid-NOV daily 13:30. Groups all year after appointment. [2007]
Fee:	Cave Champignonnière: Adults EUR 6, Children (7-14) EUR 4, Children (0-6) free. Group (20+): Adults EUR 5, Children (7-14) EUR 3.50, Children (0-6) free. Carrière et la Ville Souterraine: Adults EUR 6, Children (7-14) EUR 4, Children (0-6) free. Group (20+): Adults EUR 5, Children (7-14) EUR 3.50, Children (0-6) free. Both: Adults EUR 10, Children (7-14) EUR 6, Children (0-6) free. Group (20+): Adults EUR 8, Children (7-14) EUR 46 Children (0-6) free. [2007]
Classification:	Rock Mine Factory
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	L=400,000 m, T=13 °C.
Guided tours:	Cave Champignonnière: D=60mim. Carrière et la Ville Souterraine: Ar=1,500m², D=60mim. Both: D=2 h.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Cave des Roches, BP 10, 40 route des Roches, 41400 Bourré, Tel: 254-329533, Fax: 254-324299. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

15th century	rocks used for the Loire Châteaux.
19th century	heyday of the quarrying.
1893	Louis Fay and Emirin Buchet start mushroom growing.
1930	mushroom farming modernized.
1991	mushroom farming ends.
1991	start of tours into the Cave Champignonnière.
1993	Underground Town created.
2001	Underground Town opened to visitors.
2005	truffle farm, seasonal and medicinal mushroom farm.

Description

The rock of the quarry Cave des Roches at Bourré were of exceptional quality. During the 15th century they were used for the construction of the Loire Châteaux (vastles of the Loire), e.g. the Renaissance castles Chambord, Cheverny and Chenonceaux. And it was used over centuries only for quarrying, until in 1893 Louis Fay, the quarry operator, and Emirin Buchet began to grow mushrooms commercially in abandoned passages of the quarry. After the mushroom farming was modernized in 1939 it produced 200 tons of mushrooms per month.

The mushroom farming was completed in 1993 by tourism. At first the mushroom farm was opened to the public, then in 2001 the Underground Town was opened to the public. Since it was opened to the public, the Cave des Roches had about a million visitors [2007]. And he latest development is the improvement of mushroom farming in 2005 by truffle and other seasonal mushrooms, and medicinal mushrooms.

Cave Champignonnière (Mushroom Cave) shows the mushroom farm, located in 120 km of passages on seven levels, up to 50 m deep. The cultivations works until today the same way it did 1893, with a lot of manual work. The result are 100 tonnes of high quality mushrooms with a guaranteed vitamin content per year. Beneath old-fashioned button mushrooms there are pied bleu, shitake, oyster, and horse mushrooms produced. Cave des Roches is responsible for 40% of the world production of pied bleu mushrooms, which are delivered to gourmet restaurants of France and exported to New York, Tokyo, London, Geneva, and much more.

La Carrière et la Ville Souterraine (Tufa Quarry and Underground Town) are located 50 m below ground in a 1,500m² big part of the ancient quarry, new created in the 1990 it is still the replica of a 19th century underground town, which is the ideal surrounding for a museum of the daily life and the work of quarrymen and stonecutters. The town is not a real underground city which once was inhabited, and it also is not a exact replica. It is better to describe it as a pieco of art, bas-reliefs and sculptures, house facades complete with sculptured brick and mortar walls and wooden shoes.