Villandry

After our first night in Paris (really a landing night to get adjusted to the time change), we were off to Gare de Lyon to rent a car that would take us to the Loire Valley.

The Loire is famous for its beautiful chateaux, many of which have impressive gardens attached. You could really spend a week in the Loire Valley and still not see all the chateaux. Many people do spend a week here, but they bring their bikes and roll through all the renaissance era villages that dot the valley.

The Loire is also known for its’ wine – we saw vineyards everywhere. We were headed to the Chateau de Villandry on the western end of the valley. Mainly to start by seeing the chateau the farthest away and then we planned to work our way back.

Villandry was built in the 1500s Jean Le Breton, and was the last renaissance style castle to be built in the Loire Valley. The original castle was built in the 1200s, but was completely destroyed by the time Breton purchased the property.

It had several owners until the property was seized during the French Revolution. Later it was granted to the brother of Napolean Bonaparte and 100 years later the chateau was crumbling and the gardens had grown wild. It was purchased, and is still owned, by the Caravallo family who restored both the castle and the gardens to their original state in 1906.

When you enter the gardens that surround the chateau, you first reach the vegetable garden where meticulous lines of vegetables such as beetroot, leeks and cabbages are planted in patterns within the squares formed by the box hedges. These are Russian sage.

The colors are chosen carefully to create a remarkable canvas of color and design and follow a historical tradition of mixing ornamental gardens with food production.

Behind those are the ornamental gardens that show off the variety of colors in plants in season. I’m sure you’ll agree they are truly gorgeous.

We spent an hour or so walking the property and then another half hour touring the chateau from which you are gifted some beautiful views of the gardens.

If you go, the entry fee for the gardens are €7.50, and another €5 to tour the castle. We walked right in but I think that is unusual. Even as we left there was a queue of about 30 people. I’m sure during non-pandemic times lines are even longer. A Health Pass (Pass Sanitaire) is required for entry, and you must wear a mask when inside the castle. Masks are not required to walk the gardens.

Also notable is that the town of Villandry, right outside the chateau looked cute and there were several thronging cafes within an easy walk of the front gate in case you were wondering about what to do for lunch.