Chateau and gardens of Villandry – Loire Valley

In Touraine, in the heart of the Loire Valley, the Chateau and gardens of Villandry in the Loire Valley stand out among the many glorious jewels of the Valley of the French Kings says Janine Marsh.

There has been a castle on site here for almost 1000 years though the current version dates to the early 1500s when then proprietor Jean Le Breton, finance secretary to the King built a chateau around the foundations of the 12^th century keep where King Henry II of England signed a treaty in July 1189 ceding English-held land in the Loire to the French King Philip II. Two days later, the English King died at nearby Chinon, and his estranged son Richard the Lionheart took the throne.For a while Napoleon Bonaparte’s youngest brother Jérôme owned Villandry but did little to to maintain it and it fell into disrepair. He sold it to the Hainguerlot family who renovated the castle and transformed the gardens to the then popular “English style” – all trees and grass. In 1900 a pharmacist bought the castle and saved it from being dismantled but needed to sell it on and the chateau and grounds began to decline rapidly.

Chateau and gardens of Villandry in the Loire Valley

The renaissance-style Chateau de Villandry was saved from neglect when it was bought by Spanish-born Joachim Carvallo, and his American wife Ann Coleman in 1906. They were looking for somewhere to place their huge collection of paintings.

Joachim and Ann, both scientists, fell head over heels for Villandry and gave up their plans to build a laboratory, choosing instead to devote their energy to restoring the neglected building and gardens (which by then had become a forest which was threatening to devour the building), to their original glory. Over the centuries new owners had made many changes, the Carvallos were determined to see the chateau return to its regal renaissance elegance. Ann was the heiress of a very wealthy steel magnate family so money was no object, and the couple employed some 100 masons to restore the chateau before turning their attention to the gardens.

The Carvallo family restoration and continued maintenance means the castle’s rooms are nothing short of fabulous, filled with sumptuous art, paintings, tapestries and furnishings such as The Oriental Room, a hushed, cocooning space with an incredible ceiling made from 3,500 pieces of wood from the 15th century ducal palace near Toledo, Spain. It’s especially beautiful at Christmas when the rooms are decorated, fireplaces festooned with gorgeous wreaths and floral displays.

By 1920 the family opened the castle to the public though the gardens took two more decades to complete.

The gardens of the Chateau de Villandry

Joachim, with the meticulousness of a scientist, re-designed the gardens using 16^th century documents to create the Renaissance style garden we see today.

Now owned by Henri Carvallo, Villandry is very much a family home as well as a public monument extraordinaire.

I’d heard of the gardens before I visited, but nothing prepared me for the interior of the castle, and one of the guides who work there told me that often, visitors come just to see the grounds and don’t even realise just how exquisite it is inside.

The Chateau of Villandry has one of the most beautiful examples of parterre gardening I’ve ever seen – neat rows of perfectly pruned topiary and beds filled with pristine rows of flowers and herbs alongside vegetables and fruit, much of which is used in the Chateau’s restaurant La Doulce Terrasse.

10 full time gardeners and two apprentices, plus summer interns work to keep the garden looking its magnificent best, trimming a whopping 30 kilometres (18 miles) of boxwood plants twice a year, planting some 115,000 plants to suit the seasons – both flowers and vegetables, more than 50% of which are produced in the chateau greenhouses, and pruning 1016 lime trees each winter as well as rose bushes, apple, pear and yew trees. But even these astonishing statistics do not prepare you for the truly dazzling sight of the gardens.

Find out more: chateauvillandry.fr; tourainevaldeloire.com/en

Janine Marsh is the author of several best-selling books about France. Find all books on her website janinemarsh.com