GrenadierGuardsDmr's video: Villandry Chateau and Gardens - 9 July 2013 - GARDENS

Some places lift the spirit. This is one. UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Château and gardens of Villandry. Villandry is 255 kilometres south west of Paris, 15 kilometres west of Tours, in the Loire Valley of France. The château and gardens have been remodelled many times since the château was built in 1536 near the south bank of the Loire River. The estate is privately owned by the Carvallo family and the current layout is an adaption of Renaissance layouts restored by Joachim Carvallo in 1920. The four gardens are the Sun Garden, Ornamental Garden, Water Garden and Vegetable Garden. The Ornamental Garden represents love, with motifs of the heart. The Vegetable Garden displays vegetables, fruit and flowers, chosen for their colour and contrast. The standard roses refer to the square allotments of monks in abbeys who marked the corners of their allotments with standard roses. With two major plantings of annuals and vegetables, 71,000 plants are used each year. That's 71,000 deep thank you's from me, Villandry.