"France's Garden" welcomes green-fingered Brits.

	Photo by J-B Leroux Photo by Hubert Mourot Photo by Jardins d'Orsan

The Loire Valley, known as "France's Garden", is the only French break for amateur and expert gardeners, offering over 86 parks and gardens to explore. The region is home to internationally renowned garden festivals as well as spectacular botanical, herbal, landscape and royal gardens to wow all tastes.

Royal gardens are a speciality of the Loire Valley, with its abundance of Chateaux and historic sagas. Heading up the "not to be missed" list for visitors are the "English" gardens at the Italian renaissance Chateau d'Amboise, the Diane de Poitiers and Mary de Medicis gardens at the Chateau de Chenonceau.
For those who prefer the vegetable patch to the rose bush, a stay in the Loire Valley offers numerous examples of working gardens. The most spectacularly displayed cabbages can be found at Villandry, while Le Rivau boasts a gargantuan kitchen garden, paradise orchard and secret garden.


A stay with the region's very own "Tomato prince" at the Chateau de la Bourdaisière is the perfect base for a garden tour, where Prince de Broglie is the creator of a vegetable garden and potager housing over 400 varieties of tomato.

Bois Richeux in the Eure-et-Loir offers a spiritual journey into medicinal plants with its medieval herb garden, while the Prieuré Notre Dame D'Orsan in the heart of the Berry region houses walled medieval gardens within a 12th Century priory. The gardens boast grassy cloisters, a kitchen garden maze, a rose garden, orchards and herb gardens - the variety alone behind the walls demands a look!

Visitors preferring a more cultural approach to horticulture can combine the two with a visit to the Parc Floral de la Source in historic Orléans with over 940 varieties of Iris and where Voltaire was a visitor!
Headwater's 8-night "Chateaux" of the Loire cycling tour takes in many of the region's famous gardens, including Chenonceau, Nitray and Valmer. A highlight of the tour is a 2-night stop in Chaumont, during the famous garden festival!

Prices start from £687 based on two people sharing and travelling by car ferry, or £818 based on air into Paris and train to Tours. Also included are 8 nights accommodation in ** and *** hotels (HB), bike hire, all local transfers, baggage transportation and local rep.