Château de Villandry was built around 1536, the last of the great chateaux constructed along the banks of the Loire during the Rennaisance. It was bought by Spanish born Joachim Carvallo in 1906, who gave up a brilliant scientific career to devote himself entirely to restoring the castle and gardens.
The plantings are extensive and include ornamental, herb, vegetable and water gardens, along with a grass tennis court, maze and the surrounding woods. The style is formal and typical of a Rennaisance garden.
In 2009 the castle gardeners swapped their modern growing methods for organic methods: digging and hoeing and introducing insects to eliminate the need for chemicals. The change required new work techniques and proved slightly more expensive, but this increase was quickly offset by an even more spectacular display and by the gardeners' renewed interest in their work.
Which was handy as maintaining the strict symmetry of the gardens requires constant ongoing work. Each winter the 1015 trees scattered over the estate take a team of four gardeners three months to prune. 115,000 flowers and vegetables are planted out annually, 50% of which are cultivated in the castle greenhouses. The box hedging totals a distance of 52 kilometres and is clipped into shape between April and October every year.
Yes indeed! Gardens are my thing and this one was a joy to visit. Oh yeah - the castle wasn't bad either J
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