And the garden itself? Our land here is a challenge, and I often wonder how many years I’ll manage to make it up and down our steep, partially terraced south-facing slope. We live in a wonderfully quiet, rural area of Lorraine, north-east France, where we are lucky enough to get the kind of rainfall that’s welcome when you garden on a slope in fairly hot conditions. The village, Châtillon-sur-Saone, is a little Renaissance gem that we feel lucky to have stumbled upon. If you are interested, take a look at the Facebook page I set up for English visitors.
Rather romantically, there’s a river at the bottom of the garden – and we have grand plans to sit down there on hot summer days more frequently than we do at the moment. The down side is that we usually see a little flooding in the garden once a year or so. Much of the terracing that exists today was created by the previous owner, a Dutch sculptor, Marcel Julius Joosen. His plantings of box have given the garden a great deal of character and structure.
Perhaps you’d like to take a walk down from the house with me? Just follow the links in the drop-down menu below ‘About the Garden’, or start at the Balcony and follow the links to the next page.
We’ll start at the top, on the balcony …
Garden Dreaming at Châtillon 