France 75 - Lollipops, footballs, a nutty pie and a butterfly topped pudding

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Gardens fascinate us. It doesnt matter if they are formal or rambling English country ones. We have no preferences and just love them whatever shape or form they take.

We have over the last few years watched Monty Don an English garden presenter who covered gardens of Italy one year and then followed it up with Gardens of France. The French offering was a touch disappointing. He visited Versailles and Monets Garden but seemed to miss out on other important gardens throughout the FRench regions. One of the gardens he missed was the garden of Marqueyssac The suspended gardens as they are so called are completely different to anything you could imagine. If you do chateaux then there is one here. However there is little in it and we found it a tad boring. An empty hall with a staircase and one furnished room. If you like colourful gardens then this isnt the one for you. If you want to see flowers then give Marqueyssac a miss . It has one colour and that is green. It has one main plant in the suspended garden and that is box hedging. But it is stunning and we enjoyed every minute of our visit.

We arrived just before lunch and parked Suzy on the designated parking area for buses and motorhomes, ate dinner before heading up the hill to the ticket office. It was fairly busy for a Thursday afternoon. Entry fee 7 euros 80 each. No discount in France for golden oldies so we didnt even bother asking.



The garden is described as romantic and picturesque and it does sit on a hilltop overlooking the valley of the Dordogne and the nearby chateaux of which there are many. The views are absolutely stunning. The chateau is mellow yellow and is the first thing you see before the gardens hit you. The estate has been in the hands of the family since 1692 and the gardens over time have developed into what you see today. Box hedging everywhere. Neatly clipped but not a peacock nor a squirrel in sight. No geometric patterns here or knot gardens just a complete jumble of box hedging clipped into mounds, footballs, lollipops rising from the hedges. It has no form nor shape and is kept in this sinuousy pattern by clipping every spring and autumn. Five gardeners have the job of clipping the hedge and keeping it in shape. You can walk through its maze like structure. Sometimes you can imagine a mathematician working out a pattern for a planting but here no pattern seems to have been used. The box hedging weaves in and out and wraps itself around itself as it winds it way up the hill. The box is fat and plump and clipped unlike anything we have seen before.

From the box hedged gardens there are promenade walks through oak woodland. Signs along the way show the flora and fauna of the forest. Badgers, foxes and the birdlife all described in great detail. Halfway along the promenade there was a chapel which sadly was closed to the public but nevertheless looked stunningly gothic set in the dark oak woodlands. At the end of the walk was a small cascade of water falling from the rocks above.

On the way back we had two choices. One to walk back or you could take a golf buggy back to the hanging gardens. The driver was sitting in a chair book in one hand cigarette in the other. She looked bored as there were no takers for her buggy ride back.

We walked back and stopped at the cafe for a welcome glace marqueyssac full of fruit and ice cream and topped with a bright red plastic and fabric butterfly and a Perigord nut pie . Some kind of filling very creamy but unidentifiable filled the bottom of a pastry case and the top was covered in walnuts. A thin runny creamy sauce was dribbled over it. We ate them in the company of young Americans who were employed to work on the estate and the resident peacocks.

Our thoughts were that we were glad we had made the effort to come and see the garden. We did wonder what would happen if box blight hit the garden. It is something we hope never happens as this is a special garden and a one off.

The sun was shining as we left and we headed for our destination for the night. We had planned to use a small camp site near to Beynac. Les Deux Vallees. It had good ratings and was within walking distance of Beynac itself. As we arrived we crossed over an old rusted bridge under which the railway ran. Never a good sign as it can mean that the site will be noisy. We drove up to the campsite and some proverbs came to mind. First impressions count - ours wasnt that good as the campsite looked on the face of it rather scruffy and unkempt. We later found out it was eco friendly and the scruffiness was part of that. We pulled up and I went to look at the site closer whilst Glenn got the app up on the phone to find another ACSI site. We had made our mind up to move on. Out the corner of my eye I saw a man running towards us. He welcomed us and said his wife was around. His English near perfect with just a hint of a Dutch accent. He explained he owned the site and that we could stay if we wanted to and we should go to the back of the site where we would find quiet pitches with views of Beynac castle.

Driving round the corner we saw a new reception block and the pitches which were large did indeed have fantastic views of the castle. Not what we expected. It was so peaceful, our neighbours mainly Dutch. Reception didnt open until 5.30 so I took the opportunity to do the washing. Later when I went to pay I was again welcomed by Derrick and his wife, I was asked if I wanted fresh bread and croissants which would be delivered to my van door in the morning. The restuarant opened three days a week and we could have a meal if we chose.

We had a fantastic two days in the peace and quiet of a lovely campsite . The bread was delivered by Derricks wife using a bike with rickshaw on the back filled with her deliveries. Odd how if Derrick had not come out to greet us we would have gone away with the wrong impression and not stayed. And no we didnt hear a train at all. it was a little piece of heaven. It was even cheap at 14 euros a night plus a tourist tax (the first of our trip so far) of 1 euro 10 cents.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Gardens galore
beautiful