French garden inspiration

... (or more reasons to visit the Dordogne)
In the middle of the Périgord Noir, high up above the Dordogne valley on 500 acres of protected forestry, are the Jardins du Manoir d’Eyrignac 

Imagine – this manor and its gardens have been in the same family for 500 years, spanning 22 generations. 

An original castle built in the Middle Ages was burnt down in the course of wars that ravaged the Dordogne, and the present Manor house (above and below) was built in the 17^th century from its ruins ... 

including a chapel (below right) across the courtyard from the house, all built from golden Périgord stone ...

The gardens have developed through stages since the 18^th century, following successive garden-fashion trends, in Italian and later English styles. But the present gardens are the creation of Gilles Sermadiras, the father of the current descendant, who recreated them entirely 40 years ago. 

Every tree he planted then was only 20 cm high, but his vision was clear – a formal garden, combining Classical and Romantic styles, planted mainly with yew, cypress and box

There are gardens within gardens here – French, Italian Renaissance, English Romantic, a 'white garden', a potager and a meadow garden. There is topiary everywhere and lots of water features.

Arched windows clipped into hedges frame views of the countryside (above, top right) in the formal Italian garden

The Jardins d'Eyrignac are recognised as one of les plus beaux de France and are one of the top visited gardens in France. They’ve even inspired French fabric designer Pierre Frey to create a fabric called Les Jardins d’Eyrignac! You can see the Chinese pagoda, the Italian gardens and the manor house on the swatch ...

                                            Photo source: pierrefrey.com

Not far away, but very different from the formal, structured gardens of Eyrignac, are the Jardins de Cadiot, near Souillac ...

This is all the amazing work of Anne-Marie and Bernard Decottignies, who spent 30 years creating these gardens from what was two hectares of rock, sand and weed ...

It's also laid out as a series of garden 'rooms', but more creatively, with not only an English and a Tuscan garden, but also a wild rose garden, a jardin de poésie, a verger, a forest garden and a labyrinth

I loved the looser, slightly wilder feel and warm colours, very typical of the French southern countryside

Colours of the Périgord

As every French school-child probably knows, Dordogne is the 'modern' name (since 1790 as one of France's administrative départements) for the ancient county of Périgord, going way back to the Gauls.
Much more romantically, there was then a Périgord noir, vert, blanc and pourpre - areas corresponding to black oak forests and dark truffles, green meadows and hills, limestone rocks and cliffs, and wine made from the purple-red grapes around Bergerac.

The town of Sarlat-la-Canéda (above & below) is in the heart of the Périgord noir, but has the warm, honey-coloured limestone buildings and plenty of vert in its surrounds ... 

as well as the stuff of purple grapes. There's no mistaking either that you're in the heart of foie gras and truffle territory here ... 

Sarlat is built around a 9th century Benedictine abbey (above) and surrounded by fortified walls, but these days the only invaders are tourists, enjoying lunch in the sunny Place de la Liberté ...

while Sarlat's dogs take lazy charge of defending the town ...

Not far away, and on a different day of fine drizzle, we explored one of France's 'plus beaux villages', La Roque Gageac ...

Built as a stronghold during the Hundred Years War, the houses of this village, including a cave fort, are literally built into, and seem to grow out of, a steep cliff on the bank of the Dordogne river.

Walking up the super-steep roads and alleys to the top of the village has its rewards, with incredible views up to the rocky mountain face and down to the river ...

On the way there are exotic gardens - the natural protection given by the sheer cliff face behind with the open view to the front create a kind of natural solarium, a micro-climate that allows all kinds of sub-tropical and Mediterranean plants to flourish.

I wondered what one of the tinier ancient stone houses would cost here - maybe the one with the broken roof or the one with the round blue door? - and a clear view down to the river where the gabares, the Dordogne's traditional flat-bottomed cargo boats, still sail ...

Very best of all was the pleasure of meeting up with Karin of La Pouyette, over in the Périgord blanc, whose lovely old farmhouse and gardens you can see pictured on her blog. And for way more informed and beautifully photographed posts on the Périgord, do read her Plus pres du paradis, c'est ici - a claim you'll find impossible to disagree with ...

A chateau in the dordogne

The Dordogne is a part of France I'd never seen until last month, when a few days there seemed not nearly long enough.

A short train-ride from Paris on a speedy, comfortable TGV gets you to this peaceful green and pleasant land, which the broad Dordogne river snakes through, and there is seemingly a chateau, castle or abbey around every corner.

We picked up a hired car at Limoges Bénédictins gare - and I had to include the pic below, because when did you ever see such beautiful architecture for a provincial railway station?

Driving through this peaceful countryside it was hard to imagine the wars that raged here in the Middle Ages - the Hundred Years War with England, and later France's 'wars of religion'.

The farmhouses we passed had weathered centuries of war and peace ...

The Dordogne is known as 'the land of 1001 castles'. For a special reunion with friends from far away, we had the great treat of two nights in one of those castles - the gorgeous Chateau de la Treyne

... perched high up above the Dordogne river, and built like most castles in the 11th and 12th centuries on inaccessible sites with strategic viewpoints, its terrace has stunning views over the river ...

The current owners, Philippe and Stéphanie Gombert have spent the last twenty years restoring and decorating, and their passion is self-evident for this place that they see themselves as caretakers of for a tiny fraction of its history (it goes back to 1342).

Arriving early afternoon and too late for lunch, Stéphanie insisted on ducking into the kitchen to rustle up some cheese, bread, salad and wine - producing this most elegant 'picnic' lunch in about five minutes! ...

The swimming pool beckoned ...

and with Walter the friendly retriever for company ...

and these seductive gardens to explore, it was clear to me that only by a cruel twist of fate had I not been born to a chateau life and that it was going to be very hard to leave.

But there was a region entirely new to me to explore, and so I shall duly sort through my snaps and show more of this gorgeous part of France very soon on my lately neglected blog ...

Olympic gold

After months of gloomy predictions (security shambles, traffic nightmare, public transport will never cope, blah blah) and no shortage of whingeing, it seems London is pulling off the Games rather well ...

(and even managing occasional bursts of sunshine: golden meadow flowers in the Olympic Park)

Travelling across London from the west to the Olympic Park in the east yesterday, we needn't have heeded dire warnings about allowing extra hours for the journey: trains and underground were running on time and apparently coping quite efficiently. 

Crowds arriving at the shiny and bright new Stratford station in East London were being smoothly eased, coaxed and channelled in all the right directions by plentiful volunteers - some seemingly employed to keep discipline and order by bellowing firm instructions, others simply there to provide jollity and humour - leading sing-alongs, shouting messages of good cheer and cracking jokes - along the short route to the Olympic Park.

The pic below gives an idea of the multitudes in the park, yet amazingly not once did we have to stand and wait in a queue, not at the security checkpoints, not for entry to events, for coffee, nor even for the ladies' loos (this last an all-time first experience for me at a public event, let alone one on this scale). If only London were always this well organised ...

Dominated by Anish Kapoor's bold, twisty Orbit, a sculpture cum observation tower, the park is a former industrial area that has been transformed into a vast but people-friendly venue with plenty of space for river walks and flower walks ...

The most striking feature is the mass of greenery and flowers - the result of planting an extraordinary 4,000 trees, 300,000 wetland plants, 150,000 perennials and 60,000 bulbs. The dominant colours are yellow and gold, symbolising Olympic gold, timed to be flowering at their peak by the opening on July 27. There are huge colourful fields of indigenous English meadow flowers, but also large areas of South African and Asian plantings (for more information and much better pictures than mine see here and here). 

National spirit was everywhere ...

... younger daughter and her friends contributing with a mixed bag of allegiances to teams GB, South Africa, Zimbabwe, France and Sweden!

We were headed for the Aquatic Centre, Iraqi-British architect Dame Zaha Hadid's design, based on the curve of a swimmer's back ...

... excited to be in the place we'd watched some dramatic moments of the men's swimming events the day before on telly ...

... but we were there to watch the men's synchronised diving finals, the panel of judges and film crews getting ready

for the world's best divers to show off their perfectly timed pikes, tucks and twists

And just 45 minutes later, four years of single-minded training was over, with luck and chance also playing a part in the final rankings (China, Russia, USA, with a great performance from Mexico who came achingly close to a medal). 

A fantastic day. Well done, London!