The Loire 2008

[dinahsmum]

We went over to The Loire after we left the coast. Never been there before - absolutely loved it; we will be back! Turned up in Saumur on the weekend of the annual music festival. Had a fab meal sitting outside a restuarant with a great group playing in the (closed off) street :)

Fontevraud Abbey (sometime home and burial place of Richard Lionheart, Henry and Eleanor of Aquitaine)




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The chateau at Saumur





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We also went to the chateau Villandry, which has the most fabulous gardens - vegetables laid out geometrically within close clipped box par-terres. I can't lay my fingers on the pics of the garden at the mo :? . Here is the chateau

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However, we only spent a morning there and will return sometimes, to do both the chateau and the gardens - and probably squeeze in a lunch as well :)

[angieh]

Really lovely photos dinahsmum! I am just trying to work out how long it would take to clip all those little box boxes!

Just had to come back to say that I loved the cloisters too!

[dinahsmum]

Thanks!
They have 8 full time gardeners at Villandry. It's not so much the time to clip as the how do they clip some of the intricate and very deep hedges. Some must be 10 or 12 feet thick, with no breaks! What do they do? - parachute in?, use ladders? a trapeze? I was fascinated but they weren't doing hedges the day we were there - it was a changeover day, so it was 'out with the old' (rows and rows of January king cabbages) and in with the new (aubergines!). The tilth of the planting spaces was amazing - like the finest crumble mix.

Did you spot the swallow nest in the cloisters? And the resulting oops on the floor beneath?

[Mags]

That looks a stunning place and the architecture is magnificent..:D

Brilliant photos DM!

[Moli]

Simply beautiful......as Mags says the architecture is magnificent.......

[angieh]

You'll definitely have to go back and find out how the gardeners get to the other side of the hedges!

I did notice the ooops on the floor, but not the cause! Was there a nest on either side of the ornamental boss or just one side - couldn't quite make it out!

[yola]

The regularity of the architecture and gardens is quite startling. I have to admit, this would be my ideal holiday. Just walking around the amazing architectural examples would keep me happy for days (oh, and a bit of sun-worshipping)!

Interesting also to note about the box hedge clipping. Maybe they have a winch to get the gardener over into the middle which they only use in the dead of night to protract the mystery ;)

[angieh]

Interesting also to note about the box hedge clipping. Maybe they have a winch to get the gardener over into the middle which they only use in the dead of night to protract the mystery ;)

:-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

[dinahsmum]

pic addedMaybe so! :D
If I had been braver I would have tried to ask the gardeners but I wasn't sure my French was up to it. "Err Monsieur, comment coupe-on les haies, s'il vous plait?" Not only the horror of pronouncing the dreaded haie but the double horror of trying to understand a response with words like winch.

Maybe better for it to remain un secret? Or maybe I'll google - bet there's something somewhere. No, perhaps I'll just keep the mystery.

Angie - I think there were two nests there, contributing to the stain on the cloister floor.

Here's a link to a great pic of the gardens at Villandry at twilight
http://www.gardenvisit.com/assets/madge/villandry_france_2007/original/villandry_france_2007_original.jpg

[Elaine]

Absolutely stunning:D

[angieh]

That's just gorgeous!