We were blessed at Mount Stewart, Northern Ireland, where the beautiful garden and house of Lord Londonderry confirmed its reputation of a micro climate. It was sunny during the three hours we spent there and only started pouring when we were at the other end of the lake, admiring the gigantic rhododendrons and gunerreas.
Chaumont sur Loire, a garden full of surprises
It is rare to find such a great combination of history and contemporary art as in Chaumont sur Loire, a Renaissance castle inhabited by Catherine de Médicis set in a park over the Loire and magnificently embellished by Prince and Princesse de Broglie at the turn of the century. It was given to the state in 1938 and is now … Read More
Hens are also racing in Chantilly
Named after Princes de Condé, owners of château de Chantilly since the 17 th century, Le Potager des Princes was created by Yves and Annabel Bienaimé fifteen years ago for their grand children. It has become over the years a children’s kingdom and a parent’s delight, a vegetable and flower garden.
“Madame Elisabeth”, a lovely summer read
It’s nice from time to time to read a good historical novel that you cannot put down ! and this is the case with « La sœur du Roi », a love story of Elisabeth, youngest sister of Louis XVI th, written by Alexandra de Broca, a screenwriter and widow of Philippe de Broca, one of France’s major film directors.
Giverny gardens, flowers and books, books, books…
It was a lovely sunny evening and le Tout Paris who love gardens was there at Jérôme Marcadé’s gallery Jardins en art, where a sexy group of authors gathered around yet another Giverny book. Hugues Gall in great form was laughing away with Patrice and Hélène Fustier, founders of Journées des Plantes de Courson, while Adrien Goetz and Francis Hammond … Read More
British bliss in Gloucestershire
Flying to Heathrow and being welcomed by an immigration officer as tough as if I was an undocumented Mexican trying to enter the US was not a good surprise but as soon as I was on the M4 driving west into the sunset, I felt blissfully happy. At Stancombe Park, Gloucestershire, a magical garden with an 19 th century … Read More
Le Lude, a modern days fairy tale castle and now a book!
When I was a little girl, my mother used to drive me to the « Sons et lumière » of Château du Lude, a fairy tale castle in the Sarthe, between le Mans and Tours. We always stopped at Malicorne, a faïence manufacture where we watched artists paint tea cups and plates by hand. At the time, Pia d’Orléans Bragance, Comtesse de … Read More
Peter the Great at Versailles and more goodies
The Grand Trianon at Versailles was used by General de Gaulle for state visits and it was one of Emmanuel Macron’s great « coup » to invite Vladimir Putin there, for the inauguration of « Peter the Great, a tsar in France », an exhibition conceived with St Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum, to celebrate one of history’s greatest monarchs’ visit to France, 300 years … Read More