A Romanesque bell tower overlooking the Cisse valley, 10 km northwest of Blois, a priory built in 1060 by the monks of Marmoutier, damaged by the Hundred Years' War, then rebuilt in the XVth and XIXth centuries..., The Orchaise park could give the image of an eternal France.
It was without Hubert Treuille, an amateur botanist and tireless traveller, who imagined this 3 hectare park as an ode to the diversity of nature. This globetrotter curious about everything brought back in his luggage birches from the Himalayas, cryptomers from Japan, American horns, large cedars from Lebanon... More than two thousand two hundred varieties of plants and trees from all continents that he gathered in the park of the park of the Orchaise priory.
A place rich in essences and landscapes
In this place rich in species and landscapes, the paths lead visitors from the rigorous French garden to the winding English garden or the "hot country" plants. Here, in autumn, Japanese maple blazes and winter grayness does not exist. A late plant is next to an early plant, a purple foliage, a golden foliage, the garden is constantly being renewed.
At the end of April, in the priory park, there is the celebration of peonies, Chinese or Japanese, the shrubs that the gardener's hand has not touched, the cultivars to which it brings breadth. At the end of May, the park celebrates the rose and, at the end of the summer, the flowering of hydrangeas. Unavoidable, the sculpture of the Romanian Christian Breazu watches over the sheep grazing in the meadow at the end of the park.
Fashion in the garden
From the tree to the handkerchiefs of the pool to the water lilies, rhododendrons and rare plants, the visitor rediscovers the beauty of nature through its colours, its perfumes, but also its curiosities. The Orchaise Priory park is not just a place to walk, it is a proposal made by a passionate person: a botanical, geographical, but above all sensorial journey.
Today, the park is enjoying a new lease of life thanks to the expert hands of Elijah Bensaid. Projects full of ideas that please the creator of the park. "Botanical art has evolved, fashion has invaded the gardens, we want to bring this touch while taking care to preserve the history of the place."
Hubert Treuille, man of the world
Polytechnician, engineer at Schneider, Hubert Treuille, born in Paris in 1919, did not intend, a priori, to become a nomad in love with nature. And yet, this physicist by training, a student of Joliot-Curie and builder of the first forklifts in France, has never stopped exploring the world so fascinated by its beauty.
