Monday, December 01, 2014

Let's get to it

The main attraction at Villandry is the garden. Or, I should say, gardens. There are six distinct gardens laid out geometrically on the castle grounds. The largest, part of which is pictured here, is the potager (kitchen garden). My photos do not do it justice. It's impossible to take the whole thing in at once, although I imagine you could do that while floating above in a hot-air balloon.

Part of the kitchen garden and medicinal herb garden as seen from the castle tower.

Visitors stroll along the many paths and corridors through each of the gardens, seeing everything at pretty much eye-level. The exceptions are the castle tower and the terraces along the edge of the forest where you can get some elevation. I'm hopeful that my snapshots will give you a feel for the place, but there's no substitute for actually visiting.

6 comments:

  1. Happy December, Walt- just three weeks until the solstice and your birthday! It looks like you caught the garden at its peak- was it September?

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  2. Beautiful gardens. Are the vegetables sold at a farmer's market?

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  3. Hi Walt! I just remarked to A that I was with you when you snapped this, but it looks much better through your lens. He quickly retorted that it is not for nothing that one of your snaps was chosen for an international ad campaign by a world-renowned company.

    True. I am really enjoying your photos.

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  4. Lovely. I don't think any garden in the South of France could be like this.

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  5. evelyn, and then the days start getting longer again! We were at Villandry in late October.

    judy, you can say that again!

    anon, I don't know what happens to them. I do know they're organic.

    christine, that was probably more luck than anything else. But it makes for a good story!

    betty, probably very different, but just as pretty. I've seen some amazing gardens in the Dordogne and on the Mediterranean (on tv) that are pretty impressive.

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