Les Jardins des Renaudies

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Les Jardins des Renaudies 

It's not often you get to wander round well-tended gardens for free and back in May, Pen and I were offered two complimentary tickets to see Les Jardins des Renaudies in Columbiers du Plessis, just south-west of Gorron.

To be perfectly honest, we weren't really all that interested, and being as it wasn't exactly brilliant sunshine, we were tempted to cry off, but since we would be getting in for free, we relented and decided to give it a go.

The day wasn't just Les Jardins des Renaudies, but there would also be many artisans there with carved wood pieces, dairy produce, baked goods and lots of other stuff - including our friend Gerard and his wines.



We arrived reasonably early and after reserving several bottles of Gerard's wine, disappeared to have a look round. We began by looking round near to the lodge, which was where most of the artisans had been placed and where we discovered that not only did Les Jardins des Renaudies have gardens, but also a fairly well-stocked museum too!

I have just added a small number of exhibits, after all, if I showed you everything, there'd be no reason for you to go see it, would there?

However, everything from apple presses, to mobile stills - for the Calvados, tractors and threshers are on show, with the complete freedom to walk around the exhibits.

After a few snaps, we returned to the lodge area, got ourselves coffees and wandered round the many artisan's stalls. These included cheeses and other dairy goods, but having been bitten by people selling goods at these kinds of places at ridiculous prices before (see: The 20€ piece of cheese), we steered clear of all of them.

Instead, we set off to have a look at the rest of the gardens

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About Les Jardins Des Renaudies

The gardens were opened in 1988 and created by Jean Renault, a nurseryman passionate about plants. They are made up of many rare species brought in from many different countries and laid out in twenty-one massive beds, forming an English garden style.

Covering four hectares, over 3.000 flowering plant varieties, trees and shrubs keep interest in the garden throughout the season as well as more formal vegetable gardens and during the season, there is a maize maze with routes of over one and a half kilometres which is a must for children and adults alike.

In addition to the plants, there are also sculptures and other pieces of art as well as functions including demonstrations of bee-keeping and Ikebana, the Japanese art of floral arrangement.

Our Visits

Our visit in May of this year, wasn't on one of the sunniest days, but it didn't detract from the spleadour of the Rhododendrons and Camilla, which provided us with a spectacular backdrop of colour, ranging from deep pinks and reds through orange and white.

Interspersed throughout the gardens were frames, giving the view a still-life quality that we hadn't seen utilised in a garden before.

In fact, there was much to keep us occupied during our visit, which turned out to give us a number of unexpected surprises and made us very pleased that we went.

One such surprise was the tree (right) that seemed to come from everywhere. The rough-hewn seat that sat beneath added to the magic, making the tree seem like something from a fantasy story rather than real life.

The water wheel also not only provided interest visually, but would turn every few moments, emptying its water noisily into the pond.

 Our visit on 24th August was no less spectacular. There sadly no Rhododendrons, but there were plenty of other flowering plants, some of which were truly breathtaking.


 We also discovered pathways between and around the beds that we had not found last time and I suspect that when we return, we will discover yet more.




We certainly tried the Maize Maze, which as described above, certainly gave us a walk as we tried once in, to find our way out.

I'm sure we could have remained inside for hours had Penny's sense of direction not been as good as it is!



These roses lose some of their appeal here on the computer monitor as it's impossible to appreciate the scent that was given off and I have to say, it was one of the strongest scented roses I have ever smelt.


All told, I feel we have found somewhere we will be visiting many more times over the years and probably will discover yet more things on each subsequent visit.

I can recommend this place to anyone and for more information, go to their website here.