Tour De France 3; Villandry

Last update: 30.08.10 First posted: 17.08.10 by Nick in Blogs

Vilandry is a massive and very famous house and garden. It was rebuilt (de modernised) starting in 1903 and reflects the highest standards of renaissance garden design and practice.

At its heart is a massive 100M X100M formal vegetable garden right next to the house, separated only by the moat.

The garden layout is based on the medieval monks interest in religious symbolism and in geometric patterns. The renaissance saw a huge diversification in the range of garden vegetable species available to European Gardeners from the Americas eg peppers tomatos and potatoes. The garden was to accomodate and showcase these new curiosities, as still they do.

We got there early expecting the place to become busy, as indeed it did despite torrential rain. By the time we were leaving at 11 am, coach parties were rolling in.

The house is a big frilly concoction, i do not go much on stately homes, but the highest point was brilliant, the keep of the original castle, and the view was gob smacking, cabbages and carrots in precision military formation.

I could not wait to get down there.

It was truly beautiful, it’s not my style of gardening, I would never want to be that controlled and precise, and im glad we saw the Rivau gardens yesterday, where neatness took a back seat to freedom, colour and creative expression, but the scale of the garden and the quality of the plants (organic) was truly breathtaking.

And Im not sure how to say this, but, after an hour or so of taking it all in I felt proud, proud of what were doing in Todmorden, sure that we’re doing the right thing, and, importantly, not alone, that there are lots of people, even a whole nation, that feel that growing food is important; an essential part of life.

vilandrey