In a truly spectacular setting overlooking Chantilly Racecourse and Louis II de Bourbon’s Grand Stables, and surrounding the world-famous castle itself with its unrivalled painting collection, Chantilly’s gardens are a marvel.
As well as appealing to garden aficionados, the estate has something for everyone, including a maze, a children’s ‘hamlet’ with play areas, a mini-train and even a kangaroo enclosure.
Most prominent are the theatrical French-style gardens designed in the 17th century by André Le Nôtre, gardener of Versailles, for Louis II. Notable for their fountains, ponds and other water features and their exceptional statuary, they also contain a 2.5km-long Grand Canal that surpasses Versailles’ and that takes you to the wilder Anglo-Chinese garden – a world away in feel.
Created by architect Jean-François Leroy as a place of entertainment and pleasure for Prince Louis-Joseph de Bourbon-Condé after hunting and walking, the Anglo-Chinese garden is where you’ll find the Hamlet – five rustic cottages that inspired Marie-Antoinette's to create similar at the Petit Trianon in Versailles. One of them now houses the Hameau, a traditional restaurant, while nearby are beehives and two beautifully designed children’s play areas built using natural materials.
Or for a romantic stroll, head for the the English garden designed during the Restoration by architect Victor Dubois on an area of Le Nôtre's gardens that were destroyed during the Revolution, with a temple of Venus, a waterfall and islands populated by swans.
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