Château de Villandry, Renaissance château in Villandry, France
Château de Villandry is a Renaissance château in Villandry built from white stone with symmetrical architecture featuring two wings adorned with pavilions. It sits within systematically arranged gardens divided into separate sections containing vegetable plots, flower beds, medicinal herb gardens, and water features.
Jean Le Breton, France's Controller-General for War under Francis I, bought the Colombiers estate on 4 March 1532 and built the present château, completed around 1536, around a preserved 14th-century keep. The fortress had hosted the Peace of Colombiers on 4 July 1189, when Henry II of England acknowledged defeat to Philip Augustus. In 1754 Michel-Ange de Castellane modernised the house and added the Mansart-roofed outbuildings.
The gardens embody Renaissance ideals where nature and geometry intentionally merge into one concept. Visitors can see how vegetables, flowers, and herbs are arranged in precise patterns that form a harmonious whole when viewed from above.
The gardens cover over six hectares on four terrace levels, with the kitchen garden at the lowest level, ornamental box parterres above it and the water garden on the top terrace. Paths between the low hedges lead through the beds, and a belvedere gives a view over the whole layout. The garden fountains and trellises were restored from 1994.
The kitchen gardens contain around 40 different vegetable varieties planted in alternating colors that create decorative patterns. This arrangement was originally conceived in the 16th century and is still maintained in its original form today.
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