Outstanding garden

The ‘Outstanding garden’ seal of quality was first established in May 2003 with the help of the French Parks and Gardens National Council part of the French Department for Culture and Communications. This means any such gardens will be outstanding from a design point of view, for its plants, its upkeep, whether the garden is public or private, listed or not.
protégés ou non au titre des monuments ou des sites.

Every June, the French Department for Culture and Communications organises an event called ‘Les Rendez-vous aux jardins’ inviting the public to discover gardens of specific interest and raise awareness around the challenges of garden protection, conservation, upkeep, restoration, design and the transmission of specific skills and know-how.

Gardens steeped in history, masterpieces created by Le Notre to the glory of King Louis XIV (the Sun King) the Versailles Gardens, gardens surrounding castles (Chenonceau), French formal gardens (Vaux le Vicomte), vegetable gardens, orchards (Royaumont Abbey kitchen garden), botanical gardens (Courson), water gardens (Courances Park, Chantilly), exotic gardens (the Anduze bamboo thicket), flower gardens (the Rothschild Ephrussi Villa) are part of the French cultural heritage.

They reveal their secrets and help us understand the ‘Art de vivre’ (the Art of Living) as far as gardens go.