We’ve been behaving appropriately for eight weeks
now. Only leaving the house one at a time, attestation in hand, face mask at
the ready, only grocery shopping and
nothing more.
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| Chateau de Marqueyssac |
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| The garden is pruned twice a year - such a massive job |
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| Different shapes |
At last, we are permitted to travel up to 100 kms
from home and without a permission slip ! So, our first choice for an outing - Les Jardins
de Marqueyssac . A few tourist attractions are now able to re-open and this one
opened the gates a week ago.
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| 130 metres above the Dordogne river and La Roque-Gageac |
For those of you who’ve visited us , we have
probably brought you to this area for a
day out. Beynac-et-Cazenac, La Roque-Gageac, Domme are all on this stretch of
the river Dordogne.
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| Chateau de Beynac |
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| Chateau de Castelnaud |
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| Chateau de Fayrac |
We have driven past the turn off for the Chateau
due Marqueyssac and it’s beautiful gardens many times but never seemed to have
the time to stop. So this was the perfect opportunity to finally take a look.
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| Love the trompe l'oeil window |
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| Dining room - obviously |
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We counted six peacocks and hens in the gardens , all oblivious to the visitors.
This painting is in the salon |
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| Salon |
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| A corner of a bedroom |
The property has been owned by the same family
since 1692 though the current chateau was built in the early 19th
century. The gardens were the work of Julien de Cerval , influenced by a visit
to Italy, who planted thousands of boxwoods to create the fabulous shapes we
see today. These take up only a small part of the total gardens. The boxwood lined
paths meander for six kilometres through a forest and offer fabulous views of
the countryside in all directions because it is all on a rocky outcrop high above
the Dordogne valley.
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| Someone has a lovely house by the river below |
You can see the Chateaux of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle,
Beynac, and Fayrac from up here. And the Chateau des Milandes, once
the home of Josephine Baker, is around the corner.
There are nooks and crannies, statues in random spots, play areas for children, and lots of seats for everyone to enjoy the views and the peace.
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| A tree house for the children beside a picnic area |
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| The family chapel |
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| A wave rock - an indication of the forces that created this valley |
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| Water creates amazing effects |
On summer evenings, there are musical
performances by candlelight, and during the day, workshops and various activities. It is normally open all year round and is a very popular site for tourists , especially in the summer,
so we were very fortunate that there were only about a dozen people there on
our day out. No noisy chatter or screaming children, nothing but birdsong and
the rustling of leaves in a light breeze. Once again, timing is everything.
Amicalment
For those who are interested, here is the website for the gardens - https://marqueyssac.com/
