Friday 6 April 2012

Visit la Petite Rochelle gardens in Normandy

There is a lovely article, photos and video about the la Petite Rochelle gardens on VisitNormandy. Rémalard is a town in the Orne department in north-western France. It is located close to the river Huisne, in the Perche regional park. Here is an extract ...

We had heard of the garden at Rémalard called la Petite Rochelle before, but only came to visit it for the first time after chatting with the owner of the gardens at Château de Lorière which is nearby.  In fact there are 4 gardens in close proximity, the other two being Manoir de Pontgirard and Jardin François.  The owner of Lorière was quite insistent that we just had to see la Petite Rochelle – and time was of the essence as it would only be open for another week, its season ending mid-August.

La Petite Rochelle won the “Parc des Parcs” prize in 2006 – a good sign – and unlike most “private”  gardens it opens every day of the week in season.  This meant we could visit it the very next day.

The garden at La Petite Rochelle is very “English” in style, informal rather than regimented and with  good plant combinations – the garden includes national collections of daphne and pieris but you don’t need to be a botanist to appreciate it.  It is broadly divided into eight parts that were developed in stages between 1976 and the present day by the owner, Helene d’Andlau (cousin of Peter Wolkonsky, creator of the Jardin de Kerdalo) and her daughters, who will be happy to tell you the history of the garden.

More photos, plan and video: Garden of La Petite Rochelle, Rémalard

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