Wednesday 24th May
We couldn't give up on Chateaux until we had seen one of the most important ones known predominantly for it's stunning gardens: Villandry. Built in the mid-1500s by the same designer who built Chambord this is a really superb sight. The actual Chateau has been lovingly restored by a rich American and her (destitute) Spanish husband in the early 20th century and brought up their family here. They were both scientists and applied themselves to the restoration based on research and reading historical texts.
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| The mother's bedroom |
The Chateaux is very modest and has been modified to enable a family to live there comfortably. But the reason it is so popular is the gardens: a Love Garden, Sun garden, herb garden, kitchen garden, water garden, 1200 wild lime trees ..... and a maze to top it off! The pictures tell the story!
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The shapes in the love garden are hearts, daggers
for a broken heart, butterflies for flighty love etc etc. |
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| Espaliered lime trees |
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| The bright colours of the lettuces and cabbage sin the kitchen garden |
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Me contemplating the topiary in the herb garden.
Maybe that's what my garden needs! |
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| The maze entrance |
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| The water garden |
After we spent a few hours wondering why our garden bears no resemblance to this garden (probably has something to do with an army of gardeners!) we took ourselves off to tour Tours and it's old town.
We started with the excitement of the laundromat, before going on a wander around. Tours is another town where the old town is lively as it is centrally located and has many of the major shops located within it.
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| A very cute cafe |
We were happy to return to our quiet cave , and I went for walk along the banks of the River: very green and lovely. At one point I came across 'snow' which was actually soft white seed pods floating in the air.
A quiet night at home and another day done!
you contented correspondent
Dianne
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