Eyrignac & its gardens

French Garden

This green garden, nestled in the heart of the Périgord Noir, comes in all shades of green: yew, boxwood, hornbeam and cypress are the main species of the garden.

10 hectares of sculptured vegetation

It is the sheer volume of topiaries which creates the essence of Eyrignac: plant sculptures, areas of greenery, boxwood embroideries and parterres in a typically French style. There seems to be no limit to the diversity of shapes, which nonetheless still remain in harmony with the architectural lines of the Manor and the area of 200 hectares kept in its natural state which surrounds this jewel of a garden.

History of the French Gardens

In my family, the Gardens of the Manoir d’Eyrignac have been handed down by its sons and daughters for the past 500 years: 22 generations have followed one another since the first castel or noble dwelling was built.

At the time of the Fronde des Princes (the Civil War in the 17th Century, when some of the Nobility rebelled against Cardinal Mazarin), my ancestor remained in the loyalist camp. In reprisal, the troops of the Grand Condé, Prince Louis II of Bourbon, destroyed the first castel, which dated from the early Middle Ages. The present Manor house was rebuilt later on in the 17th century by Antoine de Costes de la Calprenède on the ruins of the former dwelling. The first gardens were designed in the 18th Century on the initiative of Louis-Antoine Gabriel de la Calprenéde (the great-grandson of Antoine), who was more blessed by fortune. These French Gardens were inspired by those of the villas of Italy, as taste dictated at that time. They were completely revised in the 19th Century to follow the new fashion, and thus became an English-style park.

History of the French Gardens

This garden did not correspond with the vision that my father, Gilles Sermadiras, had of Eyrignac. He very quickly had the desire to redesign it just as it must have been in the 18th Century. After thinking about it for a number of years, finally 40 years ago he decided to recreate the garden he had wanted for such a long time. Trusting in his own inspiration he searched the grounds for any trace of the former garden: walls, steps, the former lake etc., and himself designed the garden he had so often imagined and which reflected his personality.

When the plants were put in, they were all just 20 cm high, yet they already revealed the garden as it is today…

The fate of this “secret garden” now rests in my hands, and every day I try to pay homage to my father’s creativity by keeping his work alive with rigour and passion.