Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Catch Europe’s garden spots in full bloom
I head to Europe every spring, ready to start afresh on a new season of travel. It’s an exciting time as I dive into exhausting days of nonstop guidebook research and travel show filming. With age and wisdom, I’ve learned to take some ofmy own advice: On any trip, I slowdown and smell the roses— or tulips.
Imay not have the greenest thumb (and I’ve got theweeds to prove it), butwandering through a European garden is one of the betterways I’ve found to unwind and enjoy the world. Whether tucked into a little corner of a big city or decorating the grounds of an old aristocratic home, gardens soften the edges of life. Wherever you travel in Europe, there’s bound to be a garden in bloom nearby when you need some (aroma) therapy. Here are a few of my favorites.
In France’s Loire Valley, Villandry is an average chateau, but its Renaissance gardens make the estate a showstopper. The original builder, awealthy 16th-century finance minister, installed the famously formal gardens as an interlocking series of flower and vegetable beds. The eyepopping, geometric plantings are as manicured as a putting green— just try and find aweed. Iwouldn’t be surprised to see the Queen ofHearts pop out from behind the topiary in this wonderland.
On the other end of the valley is the Chenonceau chateau, France’s first great pleasure palace. King Henry II built it for his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. The girlfriend immediately got towork, planting extensive flower and vegetable gardens, but whenHenry died unexpectedly in a jousting accident, his wife, Catherine deMedici, kicked Diane out. The queen let Diane’s garden go toweeds and planted one of her own. Today, there’s a “Diane” garden and a “Catherine” garden on the estate, each lovingly maintained and safely separate.
Sometimes a garden escape can be no more than a soothing glimpse. Some of London’s residential squares are behind locked gates, but in other places your eye is free towander over the pretty, well-maintained gardens. In the tangle of Seville’s Barrio Santa Cruz, for example, flowers cascade along the wroughtiron latticework of whitewashed houses, providing a psychic refuge from the heat and bustle of the city.
For a full-fledged urban break, nothing beats Luxembourg Gardens in the middle of Paris, like an impressionist painting brought to life. I like to stop and slip into one of the green chairs that ring the central fountain. There I can admire the first flowers of spring, all the while watching Parisians being French.
When it comes to gardening, the British seem to forget all about their stiff upper lips. The best of their gardens are an unabashed assault on the senses. My nose always thanks me for detouring to the fragrant gardens at HidcoteManor, in England’s Cotswolds area. Hidcote is where garden designers pioneered the idea of outdoor “rooms.” Close your eyes and sniff yourway through a clever series of small, sweet-smelling gardens. In spring, clouds of wisteria and magnolias drift overhead.
For another take on traditional English gardening, seek out Sissinghurst Castle, near Dover. In the early 20th century, the writer Vita Sackville-West transformed the grounds into the quintessential English cottage garden. Something always is blooming there, but the best showis in June, when the famous White Garden bursts with scented roses. When the sun is shining, Sissinghurst is perfect.
The granddaddy of the European bloom parade is Keukenhof. This 80-acre park, situated between Amsterdam and TheHague in theNetherlands, has the greatest bulb flower garden on earth. (Those without a car can ride special buses right to the park from Amsterdam, Haarlem or Leiden.) For two months in spring, Keukenhof’s 7 million tulips, hyacinths and daffodils conspire to thrill even the most horticulturally challenged visitor. The place is packed with tour groups daily. Go in late afternoon for the fewest crowds and the best light on all those happy flowers.
Dedicated tulip gazers don’t have stop withKeukenhof. It’s possible to rent a bike (available atKeukenhof for a reasonable 10 euros (about $13) a day) and head out into the surrounding Dutch landscape, where signposted bulb routes range from 3 to15 miles. Tooling along on two wheels among tulip fields is a special kind of bliss.
Forme, a garden is away of thinking about travel. If we are like seeds, the travel experience provides the dirt. The act of traveling plants us. And the people and experienceswe encounter in our travels are likewatering the garden. Combine the dirt, seeds andwater properly, and you get the blossom. Happy travels!