The gardens of the Château de Breteuil

Breteuil is built on a promontory and dominates the Chevreuse Valley Regional Natural Park. The site has, for 400 years, been constantly the subject of embellishments.

French-style gardens including a reflecting pool and flowerbeds of pruned yew and boxwood are a magnificent setting for the castle; they are due to Achille Duchêne. These gardens are enclosed in an English-style park located on one of the slopes of the Chevreuse Valley. Clumps of rhododendrons in flower in spring, carpets of wild cyclamen in autumn and remarkable trees punctuate the walk which leads to 2 romantic ponds, the kingdom of ducks. In a hollow of a valley, exceptional grafted chestnut trees, vestiges of a plantation dating from the 18th century, have become ecological shelters for nocturnal birds of prey and wild insects.

This plant heritage has been enriched with contemporary creations on the Italian-style terraces built in the 18th century. On the oldest, the current Jardin des Princes has perennial plants, tree peonies, collectible Japanese cherry trees, and all kinds of shrubs, all organized around the old watering basin of the orchard vegetable garden and along the ‘a pergola covered in roses in spring. On another terrace, the labyrinth of 1000 box trees, inaugurated in the year 2000, is a current interpretation of the chimerical grove which disappeared in the 19th century.