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Chateau de Campagne
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Gardens and parks are an integral, essential, and vast part of the landscape in the Perigord. Because of 100s of years of cross-pollination with England through wars, marriages, and alliances, the Perigord is unique in France in the gardens it offers. I didn't set out to notch my belt with fancy French gardens but about half-way through the fall I realized I'd managed to casually accumulate quite a few experiences in the garden arena. It's just hard not to if you love beautiful public spaces.
The garden pictured at the top of this post is free to the public and about 20 minutes from the village I hail from. It's in the tiny village of Campagne and is perfect for a delightful afternoon, You can bring along your well-behaved dog (this is France after all), and how much time you spend here is up to you - streams, history, chateau, chapel, hedge maze, historical demo gardens - all good. Feel like a hike? Stairway to the cliffs on your right. Fancy some rock climbing? OK. Want to hike past neanderthal caves? You're in luck.
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| Marqueyssac |
Not all gardens are free - in fact most are not. But they are very reasonable. Usually 10-12 euros so a pretty inexpensive day out. And a few of them really are a day out. Marqueyssac being the quintessential example. It is hard to oversell Marqueyssac except for the difficulty in spelling it. Plan a whole day. Get there early, be brave about parking (ie, don't assume the close spots are gone), and plan on a glass of wine and a snack at the end. I think we were there 6 hours.
The above photo shows the view from the wine bar table overlooking the flowers to Beynac castle. You get to take in the working farms, the medieval castle, the gardens in front of you. I think the admission is 12 euros. This garden sits on a rock outcropping that allows you to view Castlenaud, Beynac, and Roque Gageac from an astounding perspective.
Marqueyssac is amazing. It's what I would call a civilized hike.
So many more photos - Part2 tomorrow!
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