We stay not at hotels but in apartments and in B&Bs.  As our base of operations for The Loire we chose Le Moulin du Fief Gentil located in Bléré (blay-ray).

Bléré is slightly east of dead-center among the many châteaux we wished to visit and so is well-situated for all of them.  As events unfolded, it turned out that most of our sightseeing was east and north of Bléré so it was an even better choice than we expected.

This B&B is a converted mill house.  The wheel is gone, but the water still flows from the retention pond down a spillway and onward under the house to rejoin the river that originally fed the pond.