A cloistered garden

The first week we were in France the weather was gorgeous and one of the warmer days coincided with the day we celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. A day after the actual date, but a cycle-free day so lunch with some bubbles was our plan. One bottle of bubbly down we hatched a plan to have a mini picnic in the pretty garden we'd walked through to get into town.

So with provisions we settled ourselves on one of the benches in what can be best described as a cloistered hedge, with this as our view for the next few hours. 

Captivating isn't it?  

And tranquil too. And here it's easy to see what I mean about cloisters, isn't it?

The garden itself was quite formal with oblong beds full of lavender and irises, which were sadly past their best. Not by long, a week or so perhaps. But it was easy to imagine how they'd transform the place. Even as they were dying back though they had a certain charm.

We had the garden to ourselves for much of the afternoon, which was amazing but every so often people would hurry down these stairs, across the garden and down into the lower garden using it as a very pretty cut through to the centre of town. I think it'd be a cut through I'd use regularly too.

Just imagine the kind of entrances you could make with stairs as grand as these.  Hopefully, most of them upright too!

I decided to see where these people were heading so I followed their path through the upper part of the garden and enjoyed the glimpse of the lower garden. From the top of another set of stairs, I could see the drama of the diagonal hedges alternated with planting.

As I returned to the cloistered hedge I did find a couple of irises hanging on, not many though.

It was wonderfully cool to sit under the cloistered canopy, and the view up was none too shabby either.  

There were more flowers in the lower garden; foxgloves, dahlias, cosmos and more lavender, as well as a pink mystery plant.  

And nestled among all the flowers were vistas to stunning French architecture, and of course the hedges! 

The rooftops of Blois

There's something about rooftops. Something that makes you look, or makes me look anyway. I think it's the shapes they make, and the maze of chimneys and the patina of the tiles. And that's before I start to imagine what life under each rooftop might be like. Yes, I could look at rooftops for quite a while.

In Blois I got to do just that as we neared the end of our visit to the Royal Palais du Blois - you haven't missed that post, I'm starting at the end. Not very logical I know, but I'm putting it down to the lure of the rooftops.  I mean, just look at the church below, and you'll see what I mean.

Angles galore, as well as a round bit. And the house on the left of the picture with two windows at the front in the mansard roof, with the triangular section above - now, do you think that one room, or more? I'm sure it'd be fabulously decorated too, or perhaps just an attic crammed with a family's history. Who knows. 

This has to be, I think one of the quirkiest roof shapes. I've no idea how the lower triangular roof works, but it made for a great shot.  

In the picture below you can make out the bridge over the Loire, roughly in the middle, with its arches.  

And as I turned I caught the spire of the chapel through the trees. 

Moving from out of the tree it was easier to see the detail of the spire, although with the sun shining brightly my shot has more of a silhouette feel to it. But it shows it off rather well, look at the shadow of the detail on the ridge too.  

And a final roof, where in fact the roof while quite chateau-like, isn't what caught my eye. The gold monsters roared out of the windows at the Museum of Magic encouraging people in. Or in our case to stop and admire them and then hurry past!

So, are you a rooftop admirer? 

The Garden of the Apprentices

It's very green, has lots of hedges and yes, I loved it! Oh and by the way we're still on the Cheverny bit of our Loire trip, but this is the last post from there - and well, I couldn't not show you the hedges, could I?

This was our view as we left the chateau, with the lawn cutting going on on our right we were met with this view. I don't think it's one you could tire of. Unless you were in charge of cutting the hedges here, then it might turn into the stuff of your nightmares!

This is the Garden of the Apprentices and I tell you I wouldn't want to be an apprentice that got a bit over enthusiastic clipping here, would you? 

Many people would just walk through this garden, but I loved it. I loved its greenness, the textures and the shapes and shadows with just a few plants. I find the topiary we have - three box balls and a triangular yew tree - therapeutic to cut and snip. But here, I wonder if it might just be another job to do, or if it really is a labour of love?

There's certainly lots to cut and keep under control. And as this photo shows layer upon layer of green, and texture, and interest. And a bench. Even the apprentices must need a seat every now and then.

There was work going on during our visit - you can just peek the machinery at the end of this magnificent arch - and this path was closed. We were diverted around this and so got to view it from the side. Something I suspect we wouldn't have done, had the path through it been open.

But it certainly gave us a different view of the iron structure and the plants clambering across it, which I think were wisteria. Now wouldn't that be something to experience when it was in full flower? Especially with the alliums along the edge picking out the colour. Sadly no wisteria on our visit, but we were able to enjoy the allium border.

And before we knew it we were at the Orangerie - now a cafe - so we sat a while and enjoyed the view. And watching people trying to walk down through the arch *completely innocently* before being turned back and made to observe the closed path signs. He he, people watching is still one of the best things to do wherever you are!