Terrasse de ChambordBen 4763
©Ben 4763|Benjamin Brolet

The rebirth of the gardens at Chambord A new dimension

In 2017, the Chambord estate took on a new dimension as the French gardens made a comeback.

The renaissance of French gardens

It was a Pharaonic undertaking, yet it took just five months. A hundred people worked tirelessly to achieve the feat of recreating the château’s formal gardens as they were in the 18th century. After all, they didn’t yet exist during the Renaissance. As Chambord was built on marshy land that was difficult to develop, the area around the château remained quite wild until the time of Louis XIV.

Work began in the 17th century, but was soon halted, only to be resumed when Stanislas Leszczynski, King of Poland, stayed at Chambord between 1725 and 1733. The Polish monarch complained of the malaria epidemics that afflicted his retinue during the summer, a sign that it was time to clean up the marshes. The work begun under Louis XIV continued from 1730 onwards: bridges, dikes, a canal and a terrace were built.

Once the land had been rehabilitated, it was ready for the construction of a formal garden based on a design from 1734. A 6.5-hectare area was planted, later enriched by the addition of exotic species such as 250 pineapple plants, 121 orange trees, a lemon tree and a lime tree… However, after the French Revolution, the garden fell into disrepair due to lack of maintenance. By the twentieth century, all that remained was a few lawns… until 2016, when the project to recreate the gardens of Chambord was born.

Reviving lost gardens

Lawn parterres, flowerbeds and alignments of trees and hornbeams have been restored to their original shape and dimensions. Some species have been replaced by others: the horse chestnuts and box trees of yesteryear are now suffering from disease, and other species with a similar appearance are replacing them. On the other hand, pineapples and citrus trees are back!

In all, this titanic project will have mobilized some 100 people to replant 618 trees, 840 shrubs, over 15,000 border plants and almost 11,000 flowering perennials. The project was designed with sustainable development in mind, with the choice of perennial, low-maintenance species and no phytosanitary treatments.

Since spring 2017, you’ve been able to admire the magnificent blooming of the 176 rose bushes and visit the gardens for a long time to come!

Ecrin sauvage

The immense Chambord estate includes a vast wild forest of over 5,000 hectares, where the local fauna has been preserved. A 32 km-long perimeter wall surrounds the estate, keeping the animal population under control. Some areas are open to the public, with free-access observation posts; in other closed areas, you can reserve places to listen to the stag’s bellow from mid-September to early October – a magical experience!

Cherry blossom
Our advice

In mid-April, watch a hundred wild cherry trees in bloom in the château gardens.

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