Beautiful gardens in the Aquitaine

One of the many pleasures of living in France or coming here on holiday, renting a chateau or a gite and spending time discovering the beautiful Dordogne, is visiting the magnificent gardens of the region. Whether they are formal gardens, such as at Marqueyssac, or the garden of a friend in a private home, such as Josette's garden in Couze, this is a garden lover's paradise and choice abounds.

This weekend, for the third time, La Chartreuse du Colombier, near Paunat opened their gardens for visitors. A chartreuse is "not a manor house nor a farm house, but something in between -- a place in which to dream and to remember, to live well and to have harmonious conversations with friends . Often at its side a pigeon coop, surrounded by vineyards, terraces, a walled garden -- the perfect place in which to practise the very fine - and refined art of living....." -- Such is the way Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery describes a chartreuse, and in particular La Chartreuse du Colombier, in her book "Maison de famille, le temps retrouve".


A map of all the gardens one can visit in the Aquitaine.

Dordogne

1. Château de HAUTEFORT
2. Les Jardins de l'Imaginaire - TERRASSON
3. Château de Losse -THONAC
4. Manoir d'Eyrignac - SALIGNAC
5. Jardins de Cadiot - CARLUX
6. Jardin tropical - LA ROQUE GAGEAC
7. Jardin de Conty - SAINT GERMAIN DE BELVÈS
8. Jardins de Marqueyssac - VÉZAC
9. Bambous de Planbuisson - BUISSON DE CADOUIN
10. Jardin de la Chartreuse de Monbrun - VERDON
11. Jardins de Sardy - VÉLINES
12. Limodore, jardin sauvage - CERCLES
13. Jardins de Clauzuroux - CHAMPAGNE-ET-FONTAINE
14. Domaine de Pouthet - EYMET
15. Jardin de la Brande - FOULEIX
16. Jardins du Château de Montréal - ISSAC
17. Jardins du Château de Jumilhac - JUMILHAC-LE-GRAND
18. Jardins de la Bigotie - MARSALÈS
19. Jardins du Château Monestier la Tour - MONESTIER
20. Parc botanique du Château - NEUVIC-SUR-L'ISLE
21. Jardins de la Chartreuse du Colombier - PAUNAT
22. Jardins des Arènes - Jardin de Vesoire - Chemin de Halage - PÉRIGUEUX
23. Jardins de l'Albarede - SAINT-CYBRANET
24. Jardins du château de Caudon - DOMME
25. Jardin du plantier et de la sous-préfecture - SARLAT-LA-CANÉDA
26. Jardin de la Bourlie - URVAL
27. Jardins de Chaunac - VITRAC

Gironde

1. Jardins du château de VAYRES
2. Château Branda - CADILLAC
3. Jardin Botanique - Parc de La Rivière - BORDEAUX
4. Parc du château de Lanessan - CUSSAC-FORT-MÉDOC
5. Parc bordelais - BORDEAUX
6. Château de Montgénan - PORTETS
7. Parc Chavat - PODENSAC
8. Château de Malle - PREIGNAC
9. Jardin des vignes du Château Nairac - BARSAC
10. Jardin du Château de Malleret - CADAUJAC
11. Jardin Médiéval de la Commanderie Sallebruneau - FRONTENAC
12. Parc du Château de Thil - LÉOGNAN
13. Jardins publics du Parc de l'Epinette / du Poilu / du square du XVe Dragon - LIBOURNE
14. Parc du domaine du Coq - MÉRIGNAC
15. Parc du Château de Cazeneuve - PRÉCHAC
16. Musée et labyrinthe gourmands "Oh! Légumes oubliés" - SADIRAC
17. Jardins du Château d'Yquem - SAUTERNES
18. Jardin de l'abbaye de la Sauve-Majeure - LA SAUVE

Landes

1. Parc du Sarrat - DAX
2. Plantarium de GAUJACQ
3. Les Prés d'Eugenie - EUGÉNIE LES BAINS
4. Parc du Château de Ravignan - PERQUIE

Lot-et-Garonne

1. Pépinières Latour-Marliac - TEMPLE SUR LOT
2. Parc de la Garenne - NÉRAC
3. Jardin de Jayan - Parc de l'Hôtel du Département - AGEN
4. Jardins de la Guite Basse - AURADOU
5. Jardin de Boissonna - BALEYSSAGUES
6. Vegetales Visions - COLAYRAC-SAINT-CIRQ
7. Iriseraie de Papon - LAPLUME
8. Parc de la mairie - LAVARDAC
9. Serres municipales de la ville et jardins du carroussel - MARMANDE
10. Jardins paysagers du Mézinais - MÉZIN
11. Domaine de Barolle - MONTESQUIEU
12. Le jardin de Baque - MONTGAILLARD
13. Jardin Carlane - PENNE D'AGENAIS
14. Jardins du Claou - SAINT-SYLVESTRE-SUR-LOT

Pyrénées Atlantiques

1. Jardins du château de Mascaraas - GARLIN
2. Jardin du château de VIVEN
3. Les Parcs de PAU
4. Jardins du château de Momas - LESCAR
5. Château de LAAS
6. Château de TROIS-VILLES
7. Villa Anarga - CAMBO LES BAINS
8. Florenia - URRUGNE
9. Jardin du Château de Mongaston - CHARRE
10. Jardin de la Lézardière - ESPOEY
11. Roseraie de Barbary - SAINT-VINCENT
12. Domaine de Chocha - USTARITZ



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Unethical to eat chocolates!

Thank goodness for the beautiful flower markets in the Dordogne! One of the joys of living in France and in the Dordogne in particular, is that here every flower is grown with love in the land which we love, picked with love and enjoyed by all! On a Saturday morning I can walk across the village square to the Lalinde fresh produce market-- to the corner under the 'halles' where a lovely local woman brings the pickings of her garden from that morning. Bunches of something of everything. For next to nothing I can buy bunches and bunches of flowers of every colour, every perfume and fill the chateau with fresh flowers for the week!

But then I read a blog entry by James Forsyth on Coffeehouse -- and I can but shake my head in wonder!!

Hollywood, friend of cheap dates everywhere

Leonardo di-Caprio and Blood Diamond gave men an excuse not to buy their wives and girlfriends diamonds on the grounds that they were ethically tainted. Now Julia Roberts is going to star in a movie that will do the same for flowers, reports New York Magazine.

The film, based on the Vanity Fair essay ‘A Flowering Evil’, will tell the tale of the conservationist Joan Root who struggled to save Lake Naivasha in Kenya from the flower farm industry before being murdered earlier this year.

All Hollywood needs to do now is to make a good thriller about the evils of the chocolate industry and tight-wads the world over will be able to say, "I'm not cheap, I'm ethical."

Hear! Hear!


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Summer planting in the Dordogne

I mentioned that I greet the sun from the terrace every morning. Ever since I learned my first yoga years ago in a gorgeous retreat in the County Mayo, Ireland, I have tried to keep up the morning ritual of greeting the sun. The Chateau's terrace must be the most perfect spot from where to greet the sun in the mornings -- and of course, bid it farewell with a glass of beautiful red wine at sunset!

At the Flower market in Lalinde on 1 May, I bought fresh plants for the pots on the terrace -- nothing elaborate this year -- only Verbena hortensis and geraniums, but bright pinks and purples and reds which will complement the shutters and stone walls and should stand up well to the expected heat this summer. Around the pool I have also succumbed to the riot of colour the Impatience gives and these should look lovely with the lavender and the mass of dahlias I have growing there already. Nowhere near the prize winning garden of Josette, but not a bad place from where all the guests who are renting the chateau this summer can enjoy the Dordogne river and the Chateau terrace!


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A prize-winning garden in the Dordogne

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I never cease to be surprised by readers' reactions to the articles on my blog . In the same week that I write a slightly more 'serious' commentary on 'Why do Americans go to Paris and the British come to the Dordogne' for the Expatica.com site, the most responses I have had are on the beautiful arrangement of Boules de Neige or Snow Balls** I have standing in my dining room at the moment!

I realised this was the ideal moment to tell you about an amazing garden right here on the south bank of the Dordogne River, nestled in amongst the hills behind Couze, Lalinde's neighbouring village.

On Sunday morning I had a call from Josette - a delightful friend of mine. "Come pick some flowers from the garden", she said. "They are looking so beautiful, but they will not last in this heat".

I know that Josette's garden is very special. It goes on show during the season and must be one of the most beautiful gardens - and definitely one of the best manicured gardens I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. The number of hours that Josette and Charles spend to keep the garden so exquisite are phenomenal --- this kind of master piece does not come without its price!

But the extra-special feature of the garden is the fact that the two of them, Charles and Josette, literally created this garden from absolutely nothing themselves.

The lovely little story is that when Charles was a little boy, he and his brother were in the back of the car as the family returned home in northern France from a motoring holiday in the South, and as they drove through Couze, Charles said to his brother "This is where I will live when I grow up!" A lifetime- a successful career- in Paris, a lovely marriage to Josette and a little family- and a beautiful home in Paris later, the two of them moved from Paris down to --- yes! to Couze. The fact that Charles has to commute to Paris to work, never stood in their way: as a little boy he had decided he wanted to live in Couze, and so he does!

They bought a stand in the hills -- a gentle sloping hill with grass and a couple of trees in the one corner. In their own typical and inimitable way, they set about designing and creating -- first the garden, and then, when the garden was planted, the house! They drew pictures, worked out the terrain and where hills had to be created, contours had to be formed, ponds had to be dug, retaining walls had to be built, materials that had to be used, colour schemes for the plantings -- in such detail that Charles even constructed a scale model of each and every little contour and each and every plant on the terrain-- of course in the exact colours of the real plants and trees once they had matured! Looking at the scale model today, fifteen years later, one might be forgiven to think that it is an arial photograph of the current property!

The project is now, fifteen years later, finished. Their dream garden exists in its full glory and splendour, and in its centre, stands their equally immaculate and stunningly constructed and decorated home, built in such a way that every feature of the garden may be enjoyed from every room.

And so, it is time to move on. Time to go start another project somewhere else. The look at each other and smile -- and I can already see the reflection of the ocean and that special beach light in their eyes...


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Their house is on the market, for sale, and I can only say that it will be a very very fortunate family that buys it and moves into this place of utter beauty and excellence.

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**Boules de Neige/Snow Balls : Viorne obier Viburnum opulus
Famille : Caprifoliacées
Origine : Asie, Europe
Période de floraison : mai, juin
Couleur des fleurs : blanc
Exposition : soleil, mi-ombre
Type de sol : riche en humus
Acidité du sol : neutre
Humidité du sol : normal
Utilisation : haie libre, fond de massif
Hauteur : 4 m
Type de plante : arbuste à fleurs
Type de végétation : vivace
Type de feuillage : caduc
Rusticité : rustique
Plantation, rempotage : printemps, automne
Méthode de multiplication : semis, bouturage

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Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event

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