Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Last Day in The Loire Valley

We made several shorter stops on this last day in the Loire area. We loved wandering in a little town, shopping at an art shop, where we bought sketches of the Chateaus and enjoyed talking with the artist, then visited a church where Joan of Arc had her vision, saw one other charming garden, then on to Chateau de Villandry. I seem to recall that we were relying heavily on 'Freda', our GPS, this day =].




Atelier & Joan of Arc




The gardens of Villandry are "justly famous", and we felt we needed to see them! The Garden Lover's Guide to France also says it is " inadvisable to go there in August" so on this cool day in September we were rewarded with an afternoon of blissfully quiet wandering. It is an amazing crazy-quilt with formal lines, and is best viewed from the high terraced walkways surrounding it.

To quote again~ Villandry occupies a fine position overlooking the river Cher. It is an ancient place~there was a great house here in the middle Ages~but the present Chateau was started in 1536. The garden dates from the early 20th century, though it honors the spirit of the Renaissance...

The management and maintenence of a garden such as this is of bewildering complexity. The logistics of raising and planting the numbers of annual plants are awe-inspiring. The curious thing is that the place, which is flawlessly kept, has an atmosphere of serenity, with no sense of stress or srain.


Villandry

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cheri, these pictures are absolutely breathtaking. They make me want to go there, because I know that pictures are never as good as the real thing. However, that might not be the case with your pictures. They are just awe inspiring!
Carole K.

grandma and grandpa said...

Incredibly beautiful gardens!!! and beautiful pictures. I am re-enjoying your trip. Mom