Château de Villandry — Attraction in Tours

Villandry is absolutely beautiful in every way. The generations of family that have maintained the estate as well as added to it and renovated it to make it what it is today is no small feat! I wish more of the chateaus and castles in other countries were treated so well. 🥰 I recommend the video at the beginning to really give the history and changes to the gardens over time as it tells you a lot about what you'll be seeing as you progress through the property. They do have a handicapped accessible path through the gardens in a wheelchair, and they also provide wheelchairs that have thicker wheels for the gravel and cobblestones. The cobblestones are HARD with the wheelchair, but I did find it easier to go backwards on them (probably the bigger wheels that help). I took my father who's 94 and used both a cane most of the time and wheelchair for longer journeys and we made out well. There are a few major inclines that are cobblestone that are HARD to get up (an Irish man helped me the one time and it was great!) but totally worth it for the view over the gardens so you can really see them fully. Also, the 2nd incline brings you in the back to the greenhouses as well as the English gardens, reflecting pond, a small childrens garden area, and the herb gardens where you can pluck a piece of mint and really smell and taste where you are. There are 50 gardeners on site attending to the flower beds and it's quite the sight to see with all the different colors and things that are growing everywhere 💙 My father painted these gardens from a magazine for my wedding 9 years ago and this is one of his bucket list places he wanted to see in real life, so happy we came, wish I could stay for the garden with lights party they throw! Also outside the gates is a restaurant as well as a food truck option and both are delicious and serve traditional French things: quiche, crepe, croque monsieur, etc. By far my new favorite Chateau in France and hope to visit in other seasons as the gardens change. Cheers to the family behind giving Villandry its glory back and...

On a sun-drenched afternoon that seemed specifically commissioned by the gods of aesthetics, I found myself wandering the gardens of Château Villandry, and I can only report that it was worth every breath of air, every step on the gravel, and every euro of the surprisingly reasonable entry fee of €8 One does not merely visit Villandry; one is enrobed in a visual symphony of geometry and colour, where horticultural rigour meets the audacious whimsy of a master designer who, I like to think, was part botanist, part mischief-maker.

The potager, that hallowed enclave of vegetables and flowers arranged with the precision of a Florentine painter and the flair of a Victorian showman, is contained within immaculate box parterres that could, with only slight exaggeration, be described as a Cartesian map of delight. Blue Salvias, yellow Coreopsis, and Rudbeckia punctuate the scene like exclamation marks in a very polite essay, their forms softened by the teasing, serpentine grace of fine Pennisetum grasses. And as if the universe required a culinary footnote, the interlacing comestible parterres—bell peppers, kale, celery, chard—remind one that art can nourish both eye and palate, if only vicariously.

The château itself, seen from the exterior, presents the precise combination of stately sobriety and assured elegance that characterises the Loire’s architectural temperament. Its stone facades gleam in the sunlight, framing the gardens as if they were painted upon a canvas rather than cultivated by mortal hands. One’s eyes, after a visit here, develop a kind of optical hunger for symmetry, colour, and order that few other experiences can satisfy.

For the practical-minded, Villandry offers two gift shops, reasonably stocked and moderately priced—a merciful touch in a world where the commodification of experience can often feel like an assault on the senses. The village itself supplies an agreeable array of restaurants, all reasonably priced, where one can replenish both...

This is a review of the gardens. Our party wanted to mainly tour the gardens. It’s wonderful, like a large series of different styles of gardens. On one Sade the gardens are fenced by the château, and two sides have forests and trees, the final side is a church and other buildings. The rearmost garden has a lake with swans, grass surrounds four separate symmetrical fountains. The water from the lake cascades down into a narrow river of sorts, and then exits between the larger buildings of the Château. The garden near the Château, and against the forest, is the kitchen gardens and is filled with edible herbs. They are surrounded by bushes and sculpted topiary. The garden across from the kitchen gardens is also a mixture of edible herbs and other plants, but in symmetrical designs that are sure to impress you. Roses are growing in many areas in the center of each garden and on the edges. Many of the gardens are edged with wooden trellises on stone walls, upon which vines with grapes are growing. Within these gardens are many benches with arched trellises , upon which roses grow above and on. There’s also a hedge maze here, however, I’ve already seen the shining so I didn’t go in. There is parking across from the chateau but the parking entrance is easy to miss. Parking is free. Great place if you...