Complete Guide To: Chateaux
For medieval fortresses and aristocratic pomp, France is a veritable feast of grand designs. Cathy Packe picks the most palatial residences
Published: 03 September 2005 by Independent.co.ukA FRENCHMAN'S HOME IS HIS CHATEAU?
Yes, though the word "château" can cover anything from a manor house to a fortified castle to a palace, usually with royal connections, such as the Château de Vincennes (00 33 1 48 08 31 20; www.chateau-vincennes.fr) just east of Paris. Originally a manor house built in the 13th century for Philippe Auguste, and later extended, this was the birthplace of the future Charles V. However, the term château also includes plenty of grand residences such as the Château de Rambouillet (00 33 1 34 83 00 25), an hour south of the capital by train from Paris Montparnasse station. This is the summer home of the French president, which, if it were in England, would probably be simply called "Rambouillet House". It opens from 10-11.30am and 2-5.30pm Wednesday-Monday, until 4.30pm in winter, although it also closes if the President is in residence.
LE PLUS BEAU CHATEAU?
France's most famous and most popular chateau is Versailles (00 33 1 30 83 76 20; www.chateauversailles.fr), an expansive estate 13 miles south-west of Paris, and easy to reach from the city centre on the RER line C. It is a monument to the absolute power of the French monarchy, which was at its height during the reign of Louis XIV. The Sun King turned a hunting lodge that had belonged to his father into a magnificent palace. The chateau became not only the focus of the royal court but also the nation's political capital until the French Revolution. Visitors to Versailles can see the private apartments and opulent state rooms, one of the highlights of which is the Hall of Mirrors. In this extraordinary room, 17 mirrors have been placed to reflect the gardens through the 17 windows that they face. This was the room where the German Empire was proclaimed by Bismarck in 1871, and where the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, bringing an end to the First World War.
The gardens were designed by André Le Nôtre, and contain formal avenues, canals, pools, an orangerie and many statues. Also worth seeing within the grounds are the Grand Trianon, a colonnaded building that Louis XIV and his family used as a kind of weekend retreat because it lacked the formality of the palace itself; even so, most of us would think of it as pretty formal. The Petit Trianon is a smaller pavilion remodelled in the 19th century by the Empress Eugénie.
The park opens daily, from 7am in summer, 8am in winter, and closes at sunset. Admission is free, although there is a charge of €4.50 (£3.20), €5.50 (£4) at weekends if you bring a car. The chateau is open from 9am-6.30pm daily except Monday; between 1 November and 31 March it closes at 5.30pm. Admission to the state apartments is €7.50 (£5.35); and to the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon it is €5 (£3.60).
ANY OTHER ROYAL RESIDENCES NEARBY?
Fontainebleau is set in a vast forest south of Paris that caught the attention of royalty as early as the 12th century, when a hunting lodge was built there. The forest is still a good reason to visit the area, but most visitors concentrate their attention on the chateau (00 33 1 60 71 50 70; www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr), whose construction was begun in 1528 by François I. The king collected many works of art of the period, which are still displayed in the galleries. The palace was enlarged over the following centuries, and seems to have remained a favourite residence of the French kings and emperors, including Napoleon, possibly because of its lack of formality compared with Versailles. Fontainebleau is 45 minutes by train from the Gare de Lyon in Paris. It opens 9.30am-5pm daily except Tuesday (until 6pm from June to September), admission €5.50 (£4). The gardens open daily 9am-5pm, later according to the time of year.
Because the royal court was located in the area, the Ile de France - the area that surrounds Paris, and so called because it is bordered by rivers - became a desirable region for wealthy courtiers and their families to build homes. A number of notable chateaux are situated here, among the most attractive of which is Vaux-le-Vicomte (00 33 1 64 14 41 90; www.vaux-le-vicomte.com). It was built in the 17th century by Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's finance minister, a man so lofty in his tastes that his residence was certainly fit for a king. Indeed, it was so extravagant that Louis took offence and imprisoned Fouquet. Any resemblance between Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles is more than coincidental; the architect, painter and landscaper were all poached by Louis to work on his own castle. Open 10am-6pm (with a 1-2pm lunch break on weekdays) daily until 13 November. It reopens again in March. Admission is €7 (£5).
Another interesting, if less grandiose chateau in the Ile de France is the Château de Chantilly (00 33 1 44 62 62 62; www.chateaudechantilly.com), rebuilt after the revolution and, like Fontainebleau, surrounded by a lovely forest. It has a claim to culinary fame as it was here that crème Chantilly, or sweetened whipped cream, was first popularised. You can reach it by train from the Gare du Nord, or on RER line D from elsewhere in the capital.
SCENIC SPLENDOUR?
Go south. One chateau worth visiting as much for* * its stunning surroundings as for what remains of the castle itself is within the walled city of Carcassonne. The hill overlooking the river Aude on which the town is situated has been an important defensive stronghold since Roman times. The Château Comtal (00 33 4 68 11 70 77; www.carcassonne.culture.fr) was built in the 12th century for the rulers of this part of the Languedoc. It later became an important royal stronghold. The whole of La Cité, as this old part of Carcassonne is known, is fortified, and was heavily restored in the 19th century by the architect Viollet-le-Duc. The castle remains rest against the walls on the west side. It opens 9.40am-5.30pm daily (later in summer). Admission is €6.10 (4.50), which allows you to visit the museum and exhibition rooms, and to have a guided tour around the walls.
In the 13th century, Carcassonne was one of a number of strongholds held by supporters of the Cathar sect, and they defended their territory by building a line of castles in the area. Catharism was a heretical religious movement that took hold in the Languedoc region. A crusade against it was launched by the Pope and led by Simon de Montfort, who besieged the castles in which the Cathars sought sanctuary. Many of these are still standing, although in various states of ruin, and there is something dramatic and mysterious about them, increased by the way they are perched precariously high up in the hills.
Peyrepertuse is a complex that consists of two castles, both now in ruins, but enough is left of them to give a good impression of what they must have been like in their heyday. One of the worst massacres of the crusade took place at the chateau of Montségur, and the Cathars were severely weakened. Damage to the castle during this episode was extensive but it was later rebuilt.
CHATEAUX DU VIN?
To oenophiles, a chateau is a wine-making estate, which may or may not have any buildings on the grounds: while Château Margaux in the Médoc has an imposing classical house as its centrepiece, the nearby Château Léoville-Barton has no main edifice. Most of the wine chateaux are in the Bordeaux area, and according to the very strict rules of the French wine industry, the name has to apply to a specific piece of land. The term emerged in the late 19th century, when grand homes were built to go with the vineyards. Even wine producers who didn't possess a mansion realised that being called "Château" could enhance the reputation of their wine, so the fashion developed for adding "Château" to the family surname, as in the case of Château Lafite-Rothschild.
One wine-producing place that, once upon a time, did have a real chateau is Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a village in the southern Rhône valley whose fortress was built by the Popes in the 14th century, during the period when they had moved from Rome to base themselves in Avignon. Very little of this castle now remains apart from the keep and part of the walls, but it is a scenic spot, and easy to see why the Avignon Popes chose it for their summer residence.
RIVER DEEP, CHATEAUX HIGH?
In frontier areas - both the borders of modern France and the ancient divisions between territories - you can find plenty of interesting castles. On the river Rhône, the towns of Tarascon and Beaucaire face each other on opposite banks. Each has a château fort, or fortified chateau. This was necessary because the river once formed the division between France and the Holy Roman Empire; even now, the west bank of the river is in the Languedoc and the east in Provence, an important distinction in southern France.
Another well-fortified area is the Périgord, where the river Dordogne formed the border between English and French territory during the Hundred Years War. Here, the Château de Beynac dominates the north bank, while the Château de Castelnaud commands an equally strategic spot over on the south bank. The largest château fort in Europe is close to the Belgian border, at Sedan. This imposing medieval structure was built on a rocky promontory. Because of its important strategic position, it was enlarged several times, and was eventually able to accommodate 4,000 soldiers. It consisted of seven floors, four of which were underground. Now classified as a historical monument (00 33 3 24 27 73 73; www.sedan-bouillon.com), it contains a "Historium" - a museum with an audiovisual display explaining the history of the castle. It opens 1.30-6pm Tuesday-Friday, 10am-noon and 1.30-6pm at weekends until March, then daily in summer. Admission is €6.90 (£5). Part of the building has been turned into an attractive 53-room hotel, the Hôtellerie Le Château Fort (00 33 3 24 26 11 00; www.hotelfp-sedan.com), where rooms start at €79 (£56) a night, with an extra €10 (£7.15) for breakfast.
OTHER CHATEAUX TO CURL UP IN?
There are plenty of chateaux that have been successfully turned into luxury hotels. Try the Château d'Esclimont (00 33 2 37 31 15 15) at St-Symphorien-le-Château, between Versailles and Chartres, which was built in the 16th century for the Archbishop of Tours. It is part of the Small Luxury Hotels consortium (00 800 525 48000; www.slh.com), whose other chateau properties include the 18th-century Château La Chenevière (00 33 2 31 51 25 25) at Port-en-Bessin near Omaha Beach in Normandy; and the Château de Fère (00 33 3 23 82 21 13; www.ila-chateau.com/fere) at Fère-en-Tardenois in the Champagne region. This chateau was completed in 1800, and sits beside the ruins of a medieval castle.
Another good source of chateau accommodation is Relais & Chateaux (00 800 2000 02 02; www.relaischateaux.com), whose many splendid properties include the 15th-century Château de Codignat (00 33 4 73 68 43 03) in the volcanic Puy-de-Dôme region of the Auvergne. The chateau comes complete with turrets, dungeon and... swimming pool. A double room, with breakfast and dinner included, costs €370 (£264).
CHATEAUX OF THE LOIRE
The mighty Loire flows through central France for around 620 miles, but the part noted for its fine chateaux extends from Angers, upstream as far as Orléans. The Loire Valley became popular in the 15th century as an area for the wealthy or titled classes to build their homes, encouraged by the thought of rubbing shoulders with the royalty that favoured the region, too.
Tours, its main city, is 150 miles south of Paris, and is easy to reach by road or rail. The TGV from Paris Montparnasse to Tours takes just over an hour. A few trains stop at Tours itself, but most stop at nearby St Pierre-des-Corps from which there is a shuttle. A return on Eurostar from London (08702 649 899; www.eurostar.com) via Paris costs £89. You can also fly to Tours from Stansted on Ryanair (0906 270 5656; www.ryanair.com).
Public transport in the region is good. The main chateaux are easily accessible by train from Tours (see www.sncf.com for schedules, fares and reservations). The local bus network (00 33 2 47 05 30 49; www.touraine-filvert.com) is pretty efficient.
The chateaux of the Loire come in all shapes and sizes. Chinon (00 33 2 47 93 17 85) is the fortress where Joan of Arc first met Charles VII. Amboise (00 33 2 47 57 00 98) is a more flamboyant Renaissance-style chateau. The Château de Langeais (00 33 2 47 96 72 60) manages to combine both styles, according to which side you look at it from.
Blois (00 33 2 54 90 41 41) is an interesting architectural mix. Its four wings were each added by different inhabitants in a different style: medieval, Gothic, Renaissance and classical. Nearby is the stunning Chambord, the royal residence of François I and Henri II, and now a world heritage site.
One of the loveliest chateaux, if only for its situation on the Cher, a tributary of the Loire, is Chenonceau (pictured above, 00 33 2 47 23 90 07). It was occupied in the 16th century by Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henri II. She was thrown out after his death by his widow, Catherine de Médicis, and banished to Chaumont, a few miles further north. Both women left their mark on the gardens at Chenonceau, however: Diane ordered the flower beds to be laid out on the east side of the chateau, while Catherine oversaw the development of those to the west.
EARTHLY DELIGHTS
The gardens that surround the Château de Villandry (00 33 2 47 50 02 09; www.chateauvillandry.com) are beautiful, and, in many ways, untypical of the gardens of the Loire Valley. They combine many of the features that were popular in the late 16th century, with new trends that were brought in from Italy; the chateau had been rebuilt by a former French ambassador to Italy. They are attractively designed on three levels, the highest of these a water garden, with a formal, ornamental garden below, its geometrically shaped beds contained within lines of box shrubs. At the lowest level is an impressive vegetable garden.
Restoration of the gardens, working from the original plans, took place at the beginning of the last century, so that they could be returned to their former glory. It contains more than 1,000 lime trees, as well as many vine-covered trellises. The gardens are open 9am-7pm daily, but close earlier in winter. Admission is €5.50 (£4).
A FRENCHMAN'S HOME IS HIS CHATEAU?
Yes, though the word "château" can cover anything from a manor house to a fortified castle to a palace, usually with royal connections, such as the Château de Vincennes (00 33 1 48 08 31 20; www.chateau-vincennes.fr) just east of Paris. Originally a manor house built in the 13th century for Philippe Auguste, and later extended, this was the birthplace of the future Charles V. However, the term château also includes plenty of grand residences such as the Château de Rambouillet (00 33 1 34 83 00 25), an hour south of the capital by train from Paris Montparnasse station. This is the summer home of the French president, which, if it were in England, would probably be simply called "Rambouillet House". It opens from 10-11.30am and 2-5.30pm Wednesday-Monday, until 4.30pm in winter, although it also closes if the President is in residence.
LE PLUS BEAU CHATEAU?
France's most famous and most popular chateau is Versailles (00 33 1 30 83 76 20; www.chateauversailles.fr), an expansive estate 13 miles south-west of Paris, and easy to reach from the city centre on the RER line C. It is a monument to the absolute power of the French monarchy, which was at its height during the reign of Louis XIV. The Sun King turned a hunting lodge that had belonged to his father into a magnificent palace. The chateau became not only the focus of the royal court but also the nation's political capital until the French Revolution. Visitors to Versailles can see the private apartments and opulent state rooms, one of the highlights of which is the Hall of Mirrors. In this extraordinary room, 17 mirrors have been placed to reflect the gardens through the 17 windows that they face. This was the room where the German Empire was proclaimed by Bismarck in 1871, and where the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, bringing an end to the First World War.
The gardens were designed by André Le Nôtre, and contain formal avenues, canals, pools, an orangerie and many statues. Also worth seeing within the grounds are the Grand Trianon, a colonnaded building that Louis XIV and his family used as a kind of weekend retreat because it lacked the formality of the palace itself; even so, most of us would think of it as pretty formal. The Petit Trianon is a smaller pavilion remodelled in the 19th century by the Empress Eugénie.
The park opens daily, from 7am in summer, 8am in winter, and closes at sunset. Admission is free, although there is a charge of €4.50 (£3.20), €5.50 (£4) at weekends if you bring a car. The chateau is open from 9am-6.30pm daily except Monday; between 1 November and 31 March it closes at 5.30pm. Admission to the state apartments is €7.50 (£5.35); and to the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon it is €5 (£3.60).
ANY OTHER ROYAL RESIDENCES NEARBY?
Fontainebleau is set in a vast forest south of Paris that caught the attention of royalty as early as the 12th century, when a hunting lodge was built there. The forest is still a good reason to visit the area, but most visitors concentrate their attention on the chateau (00 33 1 60 71 50 70; www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr), whose construction was begun in 1528 by François I. The king collected many works of art of the period, which are still displayed in the galleries. The palace was enlarged over the following centuries, and seems to have remained a favourite residence of the French kings and emperors, including Napoleon, possibly because of its lack of formality compared with Versailles. Fontainebleau is 45 minutes by train from the Gare de Lyon in Paris. It opens 9.30am-5pm daily except Tuesday (until 6pm from June to September), admission €5.50 (£4). The gardens open daily 9am-5pm, later according to the time of year.
Because the royal court was located in the area, the Ile de France - the area that surrounds Paris, and so called because it is bordered by rivers - became a desirable region for wealthy courtiers and their families to build homes. A number of notable chateaux are situated here, among the most attractive of which is Vaux-le-Vicomte (00 33 1 64 14 41 90; www.vaux-le-vicomte.com). It was built in the 17th century by Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's finance minister, a man so lofty in his tastes that his residence was certainly fit for a king. Indeed, it was so extravagant that Louis took offence and imprisoned Fouquet. Any resemblance between Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles is more than coincidental; the architect, painter and landscaper were all poached by Louis to work on his own castle. Open 10am-6pm (with a 1-2pm lunch break on weekdays) daily until 13 November. It reopens again in March. Admission is €7 (£5).
Another interesting, if less grandiose chateau in the Ile de France is the Château de Chantilly (00 33 1 44 62 62 62; www.chateaudechantilly.com), rebuilt after the revolution and, like Fontainebleau, surrounded by a lovely forest. It has a claim to culinary fame as it was here that crème Chantilly, or sweetened whipped cream, was first popularised. You can reach it by train from the Gare du Nord, or on RER line D from elsewhere in the capital.
SCENIC SPLENDOUR?
Go south. One chateau worth visiting as much for* * its stunning surroundings as for what remains of the castle itself is within the walled city of Carcassonne. The hill overlooking the river Aude on which the town is situated has been an important defensive stronghold since Roman times. The Château Comtal (00 33 4 68 11 70 77; www.carcassonne.culture.fr) was built in the 12th century for the rulers of this part of the Languedoc. It later became an important royal stronghold. The whole of La Cité, as this old part of Carcassonne is known, is fortified, and was heavily restored in the 19th century by the architect Viollet-le-Duc. The castle remains rest against the walls on the west side. It opens 9.40am-5.30pm daily (later in summer). Admission is €6.10 (4.50), which allows you to visit the museum and exhibition rooms, and to have a guided tour around the walls.
In the 13th century, Carcassonne was one of a number of strongholds held by supporters of the Cathar sect, and they defended their territory by building a line of castles in the area. Catharism was a heretical religious movement that took hold in the Languedoc region. A crusade against it was launched by the Pope and led by Simon de Montfort, who besieged the castles in which the Cathars sought sanctuary. Many of these are still standing, although in various states of ruin, and there is something dramatic and mysterious about them, increased by the way they are perched precariously high up in the hills.
Peyrepertuse is a complex that consists of two castles, both now in ruins, but enough is left of them to give a good impression of what they must have been like in their heyday. One of the worst massacres of the crusade took place at the chateau of Montségur, and the Cathars were severely weakened. Damage to the castle during this episode was extensive but it was later rebuilt.
CHATEAUX DU VIN?
To oenophiles, a chateau is a wine-making estate, which may or may not have any buildings on the grounds: while Château Margaux in the Médoc has an imposing classical house as its centrepiece, the nearby Château Léoville-Barton has no main edifice. Most of the wine chateaux are in the Bordeaux area, and according to the very strict rules of the French wine industry, the name has to apply to a specific piece of land. The term emerged in the late 19th century, when grand homes were built to go with the vineyards. Even wine producers who didn't possess a mansion realised that being called "Château" could enhance the reputation of their wine, so the fashion developed for adding "Château" to the family surname, as in the case of Château Lafite-Rothschild.
One wine-producing place that, once upon a time, did have a real chateau is Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a village in the southern Rhône valley whose fortress was built by the Popes in the 14th century, during the period when they had moved from Rome to base themselves in Avignon. Very little of this castle now remains apart from the keep and part of the walls, but it is a scenic spot, and easy to see why the Avignon Popes chose it for their summer residence.
RIVER DEEP, CHATEAUX HIGH?
In frontier areas - both the borders of modern France and the ancient divisions between territories - you can find plenty of interesting castles. On the river Rhône, the towns of Tarascon and Beaucaire face each other on opposite banks. Each has a château fort, or fortified chateau. This was necessary because the river once formed the division between France and the Holy Roman Empire; even now, the west bank of the river is in the Languedoc and the east in Provence, an important distinction in southern France.
Another well-fortified area is the Périgord, where the river Dordogne formed the border between English and French territory during the Hundred Years War. Here, the Château de Beynac dominates the north bank, while the Château de Castelnaud commands an equally strategic spot over on the south bank. The largest château fort in Europe is close to the Belgian border, at Sedan. This imposing medieval structure was built on a rocky promontory. Because of its important strategic position, it was enlarged several times, and was eventually able to accommodate 4,000 soldiers. It consisted of seven floors, four of which were underground. Now classified as a historical monument (00 33 3 24 27 73 73; www.sedan-bouillon.com), it contains a "Historium" - a museum with an audiovisual display explaining the history of the castle. It opens 1.30-6pm Tuesday-Friday, 10am-noon and 1.30-6pm at weekends until March, then daily in summer. Admission is €6.90 (£5). Part of the building has been turned into an attractive 53-room hotel, the Hôtellerie Le Château Fort (00 33 3 24 26 11 00; www.hotelfp-sedan.com), where rooms start at €79 (£56) a night, with an extra €10 (£7.15) for breakfast.
OTHER CHATEAUX TO CURL UP IN?
There are plenty of chateaux that have been successfully turned into luxury hotels. Try the Château d'Esclimont (00 33 2 37 31 15 15) at St-Symphorien-le-Château, between Versailles and Chartres, which was built in the 16th century for the Archbishop of Tours. It is part of the Small Luxury Hotels consortium (00 800 525 48000; www.slh.com), whose other chateau properties include the 18th-century Château La Chenevière (00 33 2 31 51 25 25) at Port-en-Bessin near Omaha Beach in Normandy; and the Château de Fère (00 33 3 23 82 21 13; www.ila-chateau.com/fere) at Fère-en-Tardenois in the Champagne region. This chateau was completed in 1800, and sits beside the ruins of a medieval castle.
Another good source of chateau accommodation is Relais & Chateaux (00 800 2000 02 02; www.relaischateaux.com), whose many splendid properties include the 15th-century Château de Codignat (00 33 4 73 68 43 03) in the volcanic Puy-de-Dôme region of the Auvergne. The chateau comes complete with turrets, dungeon and... swimming pool. A double room, with breakfast and dinner included, costs €370 (£264).
CHATEAUX OF THE LOIRE
The mighty Loire flows through central France for around 620 miles, but the part noted for its fine chateaux extends from Angers, upstream as far as Orléans. The Loire Valley became popular in the 15th century as an area for the wealthy or titled classes to build their homes, encouraged by the thought of rubbing shoulders with the royalty that favoured the region, too.
Tours, its main city, is 150 miles south of Paris, and is easy to reach by road or rail. The TGV from Paris Montparnasse to Tours takes just over an hour. A few trains stop at Tours itself, but most stop at nearby St Pierre-des-Corps from which there is a shuttle. A return on Eurostar from London (08702 649 899; www.eurostar.com) via Paris costs £89. You can also fly to Tours from Stansted on Ryanair (0906 270 5656; www.ryanair.com).
Public transport in the region is good. The main chateaux are easily accessible by train from Tours (see www.sncf.com for schedules, fares and reservations). The local bus network (00 33 2 47 05 30 49; www.touraine-filvert.com) is pretty efficient.
The chateaux of the Loire come in all shapes and sizes. Chinon (00 33 2 47 93 17 85) is the fortress where Joan of Arc first met Charles VII. Amboise (00 33 2 47 57 00 98) is a more flamboyant Renaissance-style chateau. The Château de Langeais (00 33 2 47 96 72 60) manages to combine both styles, according to which side you look at it from.
Blois (00 33 2 54 90 41 41) is an interesting architectural mix. Its four wings were each added by different inhabitants in a different style: medieval, Gothic, Renaissance and classical. Nearby is the stunning Chambord, the royal residence of François I and Henri II, and now a world heritage site.
One of the loveliest chateaux, if only for its situation on the Cher, a tributary of the Loire, is Chenonceau (pictured above, 00 33 2 47 23 90 07). It was occupied in the 16th century by Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henri II. She was thrown out after his death by his widow, Catherine de Médicis, and banished to Chaumont, a few miles further north. Both women left their mark on the gardens at Chenonceau, however: Diane ordered the flower beds to be laid out on the east side of the chateau, while Catherine oversaw the development of those to the west.
EARTHLY DELIGHTS
The gardens that surround the Château de Villandry (00 33 2 47 50 02 09; www.chateauvillandry.com) are beautiful, and, in many ways, untypical of the gardens of the Loire Valley. They combine many of the features that were popular in the late 16th century, with new trends that were brought in from Italy; the chateau had been rebuilt by a former French ambassador to Italy. They are attractively designed on three levels, the highest of these a water garden, with a formal, ornamental garden below, its geometrically shaped beds contained within lines of box shrubs. At the lowest level is an impressive vegetable garden.
Restoration of the gardens, working from the original plans, took place at the beginning of the last century, so that they could be returned to their former glory. It contains more than 1,000 lime trees, as well as many vine-covered trellises. The gardens are open 9am-7pm daily, but close earlier in winter. Admission is €5.50 (£4).
