Les Jardins des Renaudies visitor guide

Visit Les Jardins des Renaudies, France

The Jardins des Renaudies is a lovely garden in the north of France about 30 kilometers east of Fougères. It is an English-style garden with large borders packed with more than 3000 varieties of flowering plants, shrubs and trees.

Explore Les Jardins des Renaudies

France This Way review: The Jardins des Renaudies is not only a large and beautiful garden but offers a lot more including an eco-museum and a summer corn-labyrinth.

The Jardins des Renaudies garden covers 3.5 hectares and its grassy paths lead you around the large borders which have been generously planted with a mix of trees, shrubs and flowers. Care has been taken to make sure there is plenty of interest throughout the year.

There are dozens of different borders and each has been given its own particular style. There is a secret garden, a garden of Japanese chestnuts, an aromatic garden, a large rhododendrum and azalea border and many more.

A large pond narrowing to more of a stream provides water interest and allows the planting of water loving plants and bog plants including a large border of hostas, primulas and iris.

In the garden there are over 3000 varieties of plants and this includes 50 varieties of hostas, 133 different roses and lots of hydrangeas, rhododendrums and azaleas are also beautifully present in the garden.

A working water wheel, insect hotel, bee hives and various other structures add interest around the garden and there is also a beautiful 19th century house and a large reception space that can be rented for parties and events.

During the year there are a number of different events and activities that take place including a maze made of corn, a pumpkin festival, honey making day, a spring market and various other events depending on the season.

The corn labyrinth is huge, covering 10,000m2 and with 1.5 kilometers of paths to get lost in! There is also an associated quiz that you can do. The corn maze is particularly popular with families. Every year a different pattern is planted and at the end of the year the corn is used to feed the animals on a neighbouring farm.

When you have finished admiring the gardens there is an ecomuseum which is housed in a 19th century house on the property and whose exhibits include a room in the style of a farmworkers accommodation in the early 1900s and farm machinery from days gone by. There is also a working bread oven which is fired up during many of the events during the year producing bread for sale.

In the Jardin des Renaudies there is also a salon de thé selling homemade cakes and a small shop selling plants and local products.

The garden is open from the begining of April until the end of October and so it is possible to enjoy its seasonal variations. Its address is "The Mézerais" 53120 Colombiers-du-Plessis and it is in the Mayenne department of north-west France (see other French gardens nearby)