Jardins du Château de Jumilhac Stroll through an idyllic setting in Périgord Vert

In the 17th century, the Marquis of Jumilhac wanted to modernize his castle and bring it back to its ancestral times. Present at the Court of Versailles, he had to create gardens worthy of his rank; these were 12 terraces which, remodeling the rocky spur serving as the base of the castle, descended gradually to the Isle, running 45 m below.

These gardens were preserved until the dawn of the 20th century. Unfortunately, the hazards of the First World War would disrupt this titanic work to the point where they were gradually sold off in favor of vegetable gardens, orchards or wheat fields, along with the 120 orange trees in tubs and even... the orangery! Only the first two terraces overlooking the valley where the roar of the deer echoes in the autumn remain attached to the château today.

In 1995, the summer drought revealed a St Andrew's cross that formed the diagonals of the square of grass forming the second terrace. This witness to a more glorious past encouraged the current Marquis of Jumilhac to launch a vast project to renovate the gardens as presented in the model of the castle dated 1777.

Reorganized around the central basin, respecting Renaissance concepts and the principles of Le Nôtre, they retrace two mysterious themes associated with the history of the place: gold, exploited 2 centuries BC by the Lemovices, and alchemy, studied by the budding steelworker Antoine Chapelle, 1st Count of Jumilhac (1597).

Thus, the Golds of a Garden, in their symmetrical aspect, reveal through flowerbeds protected by a hedge, a plant labyrinth and its dark room, a rose garden bordered by clipped boxwood (renovated in 2011) and a mini solar system with flowering planets, two fabulous worlds at the origin of hopes, riches, discoveries, knowledge, techniques... but also madness, disillusionment, misery, conflicts and persecutions!

So come and meet them all year round on a self-guided tour combined with the Château or independently, with or without a quiz, during the Château's opening hours or by appointment at 06.16.22.97.69.

Prices :

• Adults €4
• Reduced 3€
• Children €2