Jardins du Prieuré Notre-Dame d'Orsan
Fans of British gardening guru Monty Don will remember this place from his tour of French gardens.
If you haven’t seen this three part series, put it in your Netflix cue. Mark and i saw it last year and made sure our tour de France included this visit.
I booked the closest Airbnb I could find with air conditioning which happens to be in the village of Bruère-Allichamps. Come to find out, this monument in the center of the village roundabout is a Roman mile stone found nearby in 1757. It was erected in this place in 1799 and is popularly regarded as the exact center of France.
We arrived early in the morning and the sky was still gray.
Every view was outstanding.
The first part of the garden includes plots of wheat, vines and olive trees representing the earthly needs of the monastery.
They also have areas for the other necessities like raspberries.
Herbs in shallow tables.
And tomatoes. Now that’s a tomato trellis!
A nice assortment of vegetables. All of the produce from the gardens is served in the café.
In the apple orchard, you can sit and contemplate the 20 or so heirloom varieties that they grow.
The gardeners at the Prieuré are known for their woodwork.
The signage is also super cute.
We visited in the early summer before most things are really in bloom, but there was still plenty to enjoy.
These raised beds hold the same variety of pumpkin I grow in my own garden in Napa, the Musquée de Provence.
Every now and then, you catch a glimpse of another part of the garden through the hedges.
There are 14 hectares of additional land that show the natural prairie landscape of the Berry region.
There are so many things about this garden that I would love to have in my garden. How about this pergola and the weathered wood parquet “flooring"? It must be magical at night.
Even their behind-the-scenes, messy areas look amazing!
The design aesthetic continues indoors with simple, natural materials.
Their farm shop is full of carefully curated garden and home wares.
They also sell jams from the garden and apple juice from their orchard.
I went straight for the Confiture Prunes Whisky-Vanilla!
Needless to say, if you ever find yourself in the geographic center of France, you must visit this garden!
