Un Jardin Magnifique

It’s been a long break since my last post, I've been enjoying an actual summer with sun this year and given that our choice of family holiday was decidedly risky weather-wise, we were extremely lucky!

Our destination was a small chambre d’hôte in Saint Denis sur Sarthon, Normandy. What do you mean you've not heard of it? To be honest I’m glad, I think it’s generally and somewhat inappropriately only used as a stopover for those heading further south or a quick weekend break for Parisians, but as our fellow short staying guests frequently exclaimed as we told them we were staying for 10 days ‘I wish we’d booked our stay here longer,’ this house and location definitely deserve more time.

The website described the La Louvière as an extremely picturesque venue providing gardens, a small wood, heated pool, tennis court, boules area, small lake brimming with carp etc. However, I always fear a little disappointment when arriving at our chosen holiday destinations, call me a pessimist but normally the web or brochure images always conjure up an image to me that is often unobtainable; I call it the ‘estate agent effect’ for obvious reasons. This place however equally matched my best expectations and even eclipsed them.

The short shaded driveway is beautifully tree lined affording you small glimpses beneath the branches of the magnificent and traditional French farmhouse across the herbaceous bordered front lawn as you drive in. The greeting, not only from the owners, but also from Venus the remarkably placid golden retriever, the three resident ducks and a handful of chickens was extremely warm, Shadow the cat, true to type, failed to tow the familiar greeting line. ‘I love this place’ immediately exclaimed my 10 year old son, ‘so do I’, ‘and me’ chorused his younger siblings.

A quick tour of the house and bedrooms only increased our joy as the owners Alain and Isabelle Groult have managed to combine old and new furnishing to extremely stylish effect. The large and significantly askew staircase and slanting floors added to the delightful charm of the 18th century building. Upon entering the large, luxurious and charmingly furnished bedroom our children would share for our stay, my wife and I exchanged knowing glances, mildly concerned of the damage they could wreak.

Back outside, we were left to explore the 8 acre site. Alain and Isabelle first acquired the property as a private home in 2004 and set to work restoring it and most interestingly (for me!) employed and worked extremely closely with Jean Pierre Benet a landscape designer, whose simple brief (!) was to create a traditional garden that appeared to have been established for as long as the house and adjacent barn had stood. Together their endeavours have been executed perfectly and they now have along with all their guests been rewarded with a truly exquisite setting that appears to have been here forever.

A clever and extremely effective slab and blended lawn path leads to the house, extending and surrounding it on two sides acting as an unobtrusive patio area and perfect location for le petit-déjeuner chaque matin. Mature pink and blue hydrangeas line the foot of the building on each side of the entrance as roses and wisteria creep up the walls encircling the shuttered windows. Now, hydrangeas aren't one of my favourite shrubs, I can’t really explain why, but at night when back lit, they take on a truly different form, and the effect is impressive. This garden entrance area includes a tree shaded seating and smaller external dining area flanked by a perfectly shaped waist high beech hedge, with ground and container planted spherically trimmed buxus adding yet more style.

Opposite the entrance sitting between house and part restored barn a natural and rustic wooden 'rambling rose' entangled pergola and fence encloses a small symmetrically planted garden with herbs, lavender, and other perennials.

At this point, I must just say that all the garden furnishings have been carefully selected and fit beautifully into the surroundings. Each wooden piece has aged perfectly providing the requisite silvery colouring. The grounds are also dotted with reclaimed objects; an old working stone tool sharpener, apple cart, framed mirrors, candelabras, chandeliers, stone finials, antique sports and garden equipment all add to the interest and appeal.

As you move away from the house the main lawn stretches down to the lake across the entrance driveway dotted with further topiary and bordered with mature shrubs and perennials with swathes of mature lavender, perovskia atriplicifolia and roses providing great colour and attracting bountiful varieties of butterflies, the skill of careful capture keeping my daughter amused for hours.

Beyond the border beneath the rose archway and neatly lying between the huge ivy clad wall of the barn and the more recently constructed roof tiled gazebo nestles the sun trapped heated pool, surrounded with attractively aged deck and providing sun soaked or shaded reading retreats.

The small lake on the southern boundary of the property is surrounded by mature and perfectly manicured trees including the customary weeping willows cascading their branches across the still water reaching towards the bulrushes on the opposite banks. Here, for an hour or so most evenings armed with a small float rod and some encouraged patience my family and I were not only rewarded with some good sized carp but also a remarkably close encounter with a group of kingfishers. My only previous sightings have been a couple of pearlescent blue flashes disappearing upstream as we canoed small rivers in southern England. Here we were afforded an extraordinary display, perched and occasionally striking the water and reappearing with their prize tightly clasped within their ebony beaks, and then squabbling with each other above the water with the sun setting behind. With the occasional splash of the evasive larger carp and splatter from the equally elusive resident coypu, the children remained quietly still without a handheld electrical device anywhere in sight.

Between the lake and the dark wood a further immaculately lush lawn area holds a small orchard and the beginnings of Isabelle’s cutting garden, complete with small afternoon tea room, containing a French daybed, for when the peacefulness and tranquility of this place becomes all too much!

The final area of the grounds (and I’m not including the private area retained for Alain and Isabelle’s personal use, which appeared equally enchanting from a quick glimpse over the fence) is the sports arena; a tennis court and hard dirt area specifically for the purpose of Pétanque, where our recurrent lunchtime family competition was fought over a small glass of local rosé and jus de pomme, and where our 5 year old son was elated by chalking up the most number of victories.

Tranquil canoeing on the river Sarthe, an animal park, tree running, picturesque villages, open gardens, reclamation yards and good food did distract us slightly from grounds of La Louvière, but we all equally found great enjoyment on our return.

I’m not one to return to a previous holiday destination, but I would certainly use La Louvière as a quick stopover for a more distant driving destination, and then most likely regret not staying longer!