Friday, November 30, 2012

On the grounds at Chaumont

The property at the Château de Chaumont is, like most of the big Loire Valley castles, quite extensive. There is a large park done in the English style, a large stable complex, gardens, and a small "village" of farm buildings. In addition to a fancy kitchen garden, there is also a children's garden, an indoor tropical greenhouse, and a rather large exhibition garden. The latter has a theme each year and gardeners from around the world are invited to create an entry.

Part of the out-building complex. There are art exhibits, meeting rooms, and a cafe in these renovated buildings.

The big exhibition garden had just closed down for the year when we visited, so we missed it. But there is plenty of other stuff to see. Since it was the end of October, the groundskeepers had scattered pumpkins and gourds all around the property. The little gourds on sticks were planted everywhere.

The little gourds on sticks cracked me up.

9 comments:

  1. Wieee...erd! What on earth are they doing with the "pumpkin-on-a-stick" theme... Was the Garden Festival still on when you took these? Was a shape formed? Is it an "installation" by some well-known artist? So many questions... so little information.
    Looks like fun, though, with the inedible gourds... but what a waste of the Rouge Vif... they are firm-fleshed and tasty... hope they gathered them into storage before they got frosty... all ours are up the stairs... one pumpkin [or a couple of butternuts] per step... [we've got a wide staircase].

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    1. I must have missed the middle paragraph so my first bit of the above comment is a load of "twaddle".... except for "Wieee...erd!" I still think that!!

      The anti-robot is "Monloin 12814" either a good name for a wine or connects with the cuts of meat topic on Ken's blog!

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  2. It is 2 degrees (36 F) at 6.00 pm on your widget. That is really cold. I have really enjoyed visiting Chaumont with you, as I have never been. Those pictures are really beautiful and inviting.
    (Are you going to get'em [les cheveux] all cut or are you going to cut it [your hair]?

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  3. Squash on a stick - never heard or seen it before now. Different but very seasonal. My first thought when viewing the pumpkins lined up was painted boulders.

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  4. Thanks, Walt. I've seen the exhibition gardens and they are very, very interesting. Try to get there earlier next year, you'll enjoy it.

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  5. At first, I thought the gourds were flowers but they didn't look quite. Glad you cleared that up for us.

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  6. tim, yes, those red pumpkins looked tasty... I wanted to take one home with me.

    nadege, it is a chilly weekend! I go the salon down in the village. I tried to cut my own hair once. Disaster.

    mary, I thought it was original!

    bettyann, hi! I will be sure to go one of these years.

    starman, they were everywhere on the grounds. Someone put a lot of work into that.

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  7. I assume they think they've stopped mowing for the season?

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