Category: Gardens in France

  • Bonjour France friends! It has been a spectacular fall in the French countryside near Paris. Lately rain and grisaille have set in but sun, mild temperatures and beautiful days have been the menu de la saison both chez nous in the village of Courances and while I have been on the road sharing Normandy, Corsica…

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  • Bonjour from snowy France! You may have heard it’s been quite a wintry weather experience here the past few weeks. And it came on rather suddenly after a very mild December and January. In fact, I thought spring was just around the corner since our flowering cherry trees were starting to bloom and the daffodils…

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  • Bonjour France friends! It’s been a very full spring at French Affaires which has meant a slight pause in sending out our French Affaires Weekly newsletters. We thank you for your patience and look forward to sharing a great line-up of new French cultural and travel features in the weeks to come. In today’s post,…

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  • Following our last garden post on the marvelous Bagatelle in Paris, we just have to mention another not-to-miss garden experience in France – the stunning International Garden Festival of Chaumont-sur-Loire. Arguably the best ‘festival des jardins’ in the country (though of course there are many worthy contenders), Chaumont’s yearly garden extravaganza features remarkable landscape and garden…

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  • It all started with a bet. French queen Marie-Antoinette wagered her brother-in-law that he couldn’t build a château on his large property west of Paris in less than three months. Famously, the Comte d’Artois won. Sparing no expense, he had his petit château built in a record 64 days in 1777. To celebrate the completion…

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  • This past weekend, I was in Fontainebleau for the wedding of the daughter of some very dear friends. It was a fabulous event and also a great time to reconnect with this charming French town located about an hour south of Paris. While Fontainebleau is dominated by the royal château of the same name, the town itself is well worth…

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  • Move over lavender, poppies and sunflowers, it’s mimosa season in Provence. Walk by a bucket of mimosa flowers (pronounced ‘mee-moh-zah’) at a Provençal market right now, and you would swear it was the height of summer. The sprays of bright yellow blooms and heady, honey-like scent seem to advertise sunny days and warm nights. The…

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  • With the winter storm currently blanketing the U.S., I was reminded of an extraordinary cold and misty December day my husband and I spent at the gardens of Eyrignac in southwest France four years ago. For this week’s post, I pulled the following article from the French Affaires’ archives describing this magical, though chilly winter adventure. Enjoy – and…

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  • French gardens have a spirit and a presence all their own. I have walked and wandered in dozens of French jardins over the years – in the ‘biggies’ such as Versailles, Fontainebleau, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Chantilly, St. Germain-en-Laye, Sceaux, St. Cloud, and the Tuileries, and in smaller ones cradling manor houses and petits châteaux in various corners…

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