Flowers at Bouges

The small Château de Bouges is located about 10 kilometers north-east of Levroux. It was built in the mid 18th century and its "claim to fame" is that Tallyrand owned it for a number of years in the early 1800's. On the day we visited, we decided not to take the interior tour but to just wander around the grounds. The gardens were beautiful, as were the stable buildings with their collection of saddles and coaches from those early days.

The highlight of the day was the flower garden and its greenhouses. There were at least three greenhouses, all open for us to explore.


It was early October and we had good weather. Not cold, some sun.

The roof of one of the greenhouses.

Inside a greenhouse.

Pyracantha.

Many varieties of primrose, above and below.

Below, a stone face on a wall, seen while wandering the grounds.

Hey, guys, wait for me!

We spent a couple of hours wandering around. Toward the end of our visit, we noticed that there were more people in the courtyard than there had been when we arrived. It turned out that on this particular day there was some kind of children's event at the château. We poked our heads in and helped ourselves to some of the light refreshments that were put out for the participants - touring châteaux is thirsty work. All of a sudden, some boys on unicycles raced by (above). I have no idea how they got in with their "wheels," but there they were.

We headed home after that and settled in with a bottle of sparkling Vouvray. It was a very nice day.