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May 2025 (Part 07)

France Trip: Day 2: Chateau De Villandry

Our next stop on this amazing day was at the Chateau De Villandry, which is famous for its exquisite formal gardens, which is about 45-minutes west of Chenonceaux just upstream of where the Cher River joins the Loire River.  This was the sight of a fortress since the 12th century, where Henry II Plantagenet, King of England, signed the Peace of Columbiers in 1189 to recognize his defeat by Phillippe Auguste, King of France.  The estate was acquired in the early 16th century by Jean Le Breton, France's Controller-General for War under King Francis I, and a new château was constructed between 1532-1536 around the original 14th-century keep.  This was the last of the big chateaus built during the Renaissance.  As it was built, it's architecture became more constrained and classical, shedding much of the Italian design influences and adopting a more French style which prefaced the Henry IV style.  During the French Revolution the property was confiscated and in the early 19th century, Emperor Napoleon acquired it for his brother Jérôme Bonaparte.  The estate was purchased in 1905 by the Carvallo family, who spent a fortune restoring the chateau and the gardens to their Renaissance glory.

We opted to visit only the gardens and headed inside.  The gardens span seven hectares of the 15 hectare estate, bordered by a forested hill, the village, and the flood plains of the Cher River.  Cathy opted for a route without stairs, while the the girls headed to the left and started climbing up the side of a hill to an overlook.  Steve took a circuitous route to join them.

The four square gardens next to the chateau form the love gardens with squares representing tender lover (with four hearts separated by little flames), passionate love (with heart shapes shattered by passion), flighty love (with butterflies in the middle and love letters), and tragic love (with dagger blades and blood red flowers).  The next group of garden squares under the retaining wall was the Garden of the Crosses which featured designs with a Maltese cross, Languedoc cross, and a Basque cross.

We made our way to the small pavilion and greenhouse in the southernmost corner of the garden, stopping to take some pictures along the retaining wall.

We then made our way around the Water Garden.

We next went through the Sun Garden, which was filled with wildflowers ... and bees .. and Alexa had the camera ...

Back down on an intermediate level in the Water Garden along the far side we were overlooking the formal Ornamental Kitchen Gardens again.  Found this interesting picture of what the scene used to look like.

We eventually made our way into the Ornamental Kitchen Gardens

Here are some images looking back behind us toward the village and the chapel on the other side of the wall to the west.

Some images of the chateau on our way out.  Enjoyed some gelato and a couple crepes from a small sidewalk cafe as we headed out.

On the way back to our hotel near Amboise, we took a route down the Lore River which provided a view of the 15th century Chateau Royal d'Amboise.

We headed back into Amboise for dinner before returning to our hotel.  We found a small walking mall and had a really nice dinner at the Bistro d'Amboise.

Here is the pamphlet from Villandry