The Medieval Enclosed Garden

Chateau and Garden, Pays de la Loire

The medieval enclosed garden, thusly called because it is surrounded by ramparts whose foundations date from the 12th century, is a garden transitional between the medieval and renaissance periods.

The enclosed garden, located at the the foot of the Donjon is divided into three parts :

-The well garden made up of simple geometric shapes in which is located the 45m deep well which used to provide the fortress with water.

-The middle garden, of renaissance inspiration with ancient varieties of stem roses, aromatic plants (verbena, hyssop), condimentary plants, tinctorial plants (dyer’s madder) and medicinal plants.

- The garden of the Holy Ghost, planted around the ruins of the chapel of the Holy Ghost, made up of buxus hedge design inspired by labyrinth drawings. It includes an aviary sheltering a demoiselle crane, a bird originating from Afghanistan whose refined elegance is a reminder that at this time gardens were not conceived without animals.

Numerous botanic species

Botanic collections

Numerous remarkable botanic species and collections of roses and peonies are found including :

• verveine
• hysope
• garance rouge
• aromatiques
• condimentaires
• tinctoriales
• médicinales