Le Grand Jardin
We’d had a beautiful few days in Reims, and the weather had been gorgeous — sunny but not too hot. We’d decided to extend our little adventure and make a tiny detour via the town of Joinville. It’s about an 80 minute drive south of Reims and east of where we live. The reason for going was that I’d read about a chateau there which has a beautiful garden.
The lady at the accueil (reception) welcomed us with bright enthusiasm. She explained to us what we could expect to see, and what we wouldn’t see. Mainly that there was a large formal garden and that the chateau was built as a place for fun, relaxation and dancing, so there wasn’t any furniture.
We decided to start in the garden at the front of the chateau. A jardin of topiary trees in yew follows the line of the chateau.
It felt like we were walking through the garden in Alice in Wonderland. I imagined the white rabbit would jump out from behind one of the immaculately kept pieces at any moment.
The garden created between the moat and the topiary borders had been filled with spring bulbs, all bursting into colour. It definitely inspired me to want to plant more tulip bulbs in our garden for next year, they make such a beautiful display and a great foreground to the evergreens of the topiary.
We then entered the interior of the chateau via a beautiful horseshoe, stone staircase at the back of the building. After opening the large, heavy wooden door, we entered a vast room, where you could imagine the aristocracy of the region coming and enjoying an evening of dancing, socialising, sharing well prepared food and enjoying delicious wines — just having decadent fun.
If you follow the stairs up to the top of the chateau you can also visit the recently renovated roof, which is quite spectacular in itself.
From the coolness of the chateau we then ventured back outside to enjoy wandering around the rest of the garden and park area. Here we discovered a little maze, cool refreshing fountains, a number of beds allocated for the potager — with herbs, vegetables and cut flowers — a delightful apple orchard full of blossom, an old wooden pergola, and a wall of beautiful, handmade garden chimes. So much inspiration.
I was so glad we’d made our little detour to the chateau, such a delight to see.
