If you dream of finding some inspiring gardens, in a beautiful part of the world which you can enjoy with a lovely group of people and leave most of the organising to someone else (apart from booking some accommodation and the transport to France that is)… I think you’ll find that French Gardens Today will be the answer! If you want a totally organised tour they can also cater for this too in association with Cricketer Holidays.
Just over a week ago now, I had the pleasure of working with Clare Whately of French Gardens Today on her new garden tour of some of the most beautiful gardens in northern Brittany. We had a fabulous few days and visted some beautiful gardens - The first was Les Jardins de Kerdalo - created by the late Prince Peter Wolkonsky - and now in the extremely capable and skilled hands of his daughter Isabelle Vaughan and her husband Timothy Vaughan - a truly stunning garden...
The incredible bark of Arbutus andrachnoides 
The interesting trunk of the stunning Exchorda x macrantha "The Bride"
This particular tour is being repeated next year again but in from the 10-11th May 2011, so don't miss out on a real treat. For more information email Clare - mailto:clare@frenchgardenstoday.co.uk.
The next garden we went to was slightly more inland - the Grand Launay - this garden is only open sur rendez vous - a very special garden with some incredible ideas and planting - created by Jean Schalit who has definitely dared to be different - some amazing examples of pruning and topiary too - an inspiration!
A resting place to sit and contemplate and soak in the atmostphere of this special place.
Day 2 of our tour took us up to the coast to one completely private garden which will remain a surprise for any of you booking on the tour in May as the owners would prefer that the garden remain private - a total delight. The other garden which we visited on day 2 was fabulous - and only open on Sunday mornings by prior reservation and is by a guided tour only - The Jardin du Pellinec - the variety of trees and shrubs and perennials is incredible here and especially as this garden was only started just 10 years ago - the setting is very special with views out to sea and you have that sense of being completely cosseted by the rich flora and fauna.
This photo of these beautiful Japanese Anenomes seemed like the fitting photo for the end of this posting!
9 comments:
Miranda I have never thought about french gardens at all. Its always been french architecture that has captivated me until now. Your photos just looked superb with the dense borders just filled with so many shrubs, trees and grasses along with drifts of perennials. I could just imagine myself walking along those vistas and sitting on that garden bench as I scrolled down the photos.
Miranda see the photo 4th from the bottom - what are those red blooms?
Beautiful grand gardens.
Always like seeing the brick homes...everything is wood here.:(
Thanks for the tour.
Thank you for takeing me (and all the other readers!) on this very nice and interesting virtual garden tour! Up to now I didn't visit gardens abroad with a group as I do not yet like to make organized travels. I wonder whether these gardens only open to groups. Perhaps they have open garden doors once or twice a year?! Anyway, I do keep the names in memory in case I should travel again to this part of France :-) !
Dear Rosie - thanks so much for your kind comments and great that you enjoyed the tour of the gardens too - there are some stunning gardens here in France - these were definitely some of them. The Red Flower in the photo you mention is Lobelia cardinalis - beautiful with it's dark stems and leaves! It's tipping down with much needed rain today so time to catch up on my blog :-) x
Dear Patsi - lovely to see your comments on my blog - do hope all's going well with you - I've had so little time this year for blogging - sorry. Most of the buildings around here are infact Granite - the same material they built the famous Mt St Michel - it weighs a ton! Take care Miranda
Dear Babara - a welcome to my blog - the gardens in the photos are not often open and are much easier to visit in an organised group - the great thing about these tours is that people travel and organise their accomodation independantly - you are just with the group during the day and there is a coach for transport and in the evening you are free to do your own thing or link up with some of the others on the trip too - much better than a "coach tour" holiday in my mind! This tour is being repeated next May - a great time to see these gardens incase you're interested.
Many thanks Miranda
These are gorgeous gardens! And the bark on that tree is amazing!!
Kimberly - thanks so much for your comments - we had an amazing time seeing so many beautiful gardens in a short space of time and you're right about the bark - I thought it was stunning - hope you're having a good weekend... Miranda
Miranda
Loved touring with you, if only virtually!
It's been some time since I've visited gardens in Normandy, and never in Brittany. Must file away the info on French Gardens Today.
Love this time of year for fabulous anemones, but ooh la la .. that swallowtail caterpillar. What a wonderful sight.
Merci!!
Alice
((aka Alice's Garden Travel Buzz ))
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