The château and gardens at Villandry

After my friend C. and I left Azay-le-Rideau, we drove the short distance to the castle at Villandry which is know more for its elaborate gardens than anything else. The gardens are done in the French style: vast geometric parterres framed with intricately shaped hedges and filled with colorful flowers and plants. The gardens are separated by majestic allées and occupy several different levels of the riverbank.

Looking east over the vast kitchen garden toward the château at Villandry.

The grounds include six distinct gardens and a section of woodland. The largest garden is, I believe, the potager (kitchen garden) that, at this time of year, is filled with leeks, artichokes, colorful cabbages and chards, squash and pumpkins, and herbs of every variety. What you see in the photo above is part of the potager with the castle as a backdrop. But I'm getting ahead of myself...