back
guides
help newsletters advertisers Booking: 0872 442 5038
Château de la Foltière
Parks and Gardens   Parks and Gardens

Fees and Opening days :
Open from 1st March to 15th November.
July and August, sundays, bank holidays : 10.30 am - 6.30 pm.
April, May, June and September : 10 am to 12 am and 2pm to 6 pm.
March, October and November : 2 pm - 5:30 pm.
The Parc Floral is closed from 16th November to 28th February (except garden shop).
Adults : 9 - 9,50 Euros ; 13 to 18 years old and students : 8 Euros ; 5 to 13 years old : 7 Euros.
Family pass : 28 Euros.
Guided visit (20 people minimum) : 11 Euros/person.

Description :

The Foltiere Estate consisted of a manor house built near a valled-in pond. Access was along a large carriage-drive lined with trees. The Des Buffard family built the present manor, and they laid out the English-style garden, very fashionable in Europe at the end of the 18th century. This style was more pastoral, inspired by the countryside.

THE VISIT :

The ROBINSON'S GARDEN has been specially designed for children : they have to find their way through a maze leading to a play area.

The PERSIAN'S GARDEN is strongly inspired by the Islamic water gardens. The garden is crossed by a canal fed by arching jets of water, a symbol of purity and life. Near the end of the canal : the dark shapes of three cypress trees, symbol of eternity. A luxuriant Mediterranean type vegetation grows on either side of the canal : Rosa damascena, Myrtus, Cistus...

The CITY OF ANTIQUITY created in the former kitchen garden is entirely enclosed by walls. It evokes a journey around the Mediterranean. The rows of juniper recall here the columns lining the streets of an old Greco-Roman city.
Three quadrilaterals, lying between the paths and following the origina] layout of the garden, represent an archaeological site consisting of:
- an Odeon (theatre) planted with rainbow-coloured irises
- an Agora (square) bordered by two clumps of hydrangeas
- a Tholos (rotunda) decorated with acanthus.

The CITY OF CNOSSOS backs on to the walls of the Antique City.
Here the visitor is transported to Crete, to discover the Labyrinth which King Minos had built in order to imprison the Minotaur. Using a plant well-adapted to the Breton climate : the camellia.

The KINGS' VALLEY, covered with bamboo ; you can see 'Lotus des Indes' and Papyrus of Egypte.

The OLD ROSES' PATH crossing a meadow planted with bulbs of wild narcissus and tulips.

The POETS' VALLEY, so named after the famous poem "The Valley" by Lamartine, proper, extensively planted with hundreds of varieties of rhododendrons, azaleas, and thousands of other plants.
This opens into :
- The garden of the Rising Sun, a delicate blend of the aquatic, the mineral and the vegetable, softened by the sound of a waterfall. What counts here is the abstract beauty of Nature, the plants and the stones. Three of them are placed to represent the classic Chinese triad of Earth, Sky, and Mankind.
A paved alley ( with stones set in a "wild geese" pattern) links the Red Bridge, marking the entrance to the garden, with the granite lantern, reminiscent of the "Kasuga" style. Notice, in the carpeting moss, pebbles set in abstract patterns symbolising water.
- The garden of the Old Wash-House is situated on the banks of a pond, beneath the boughs of ancient beeches.

The BLUE LAGOON, separated from the Poets' Valley by a path which goes under an arch of rhododendrons, follows the banks of the pond, then goes along a gully planted with heather. It brings in a note of exotic freshness.

THE LAIR OF THE CARNIVORES : The marshy area around the spring which feeds the Blue Lagoon is inhabited by fascinating insecteating plants : Venus fly-traps and others.

The GARDEN OF FOUR SEASONS, opposite the manor, is made up of four beds, one for each season.

The GARDEN OF THE STARED NIGHTS, in the middle of the "little wood of the confidences" where the foliages and the flowers are black.