A Noticeable Garden | Les Jardins des S.

From the 18th century

Between village and bocage, the residence of Soussilanges crosses the centuries peacefully, according to the needs and the means of its successive guests.

Some think that François Villon could have found shelter and inspiration there during one of his miserable and enthusiastic escapes. Hanging trees are legion in the region ...

But more surely, in its current ramage and this since the XVIIIth century, the building constitutes a classic example of Bourbonnaise farm with the bakehouse, the vat (XIXth century) and a barn for the cattle and the horses. Twelve to fifteen people worked in perfect autarky until the beginning of the 20th century.

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The Time of the Buds

How long it is to come!

Everything is ready ; not a cut of the secateurs is missing; the birds flutter; the hellebores hold the distance at arm's length defying the white hyacinths, the flower buds point, but nothing comes ... February was magnificent, like every year and like every year, April ruins the hope of a spring where every flower could become fruit. Humility, patience and a few more preparations before the May explosion.

The senses finally collide. No more restraint slows down Mother Nature. The wait for the last few months is only prehistoric. Peonies, roses, lotuses and magnolias come into the picture ...

The waltz of flowers

How beautiful !

Swifts flutter in the midst of the multicolored clouds of butterflies… Difficult to remember the dreary winter.

The vegetable garden then focuses the attention of the gardener who does not know which plant to turn to. Despite their length, the days are always too short. An abundant exuberance invades the spirits, even if the storms as saving as they are destructive remind us to reality. And in recent years, the pangs of drought have occupied people's minds. We organize, we rationalize, we learn, we adapt, but will that be enough?

Peace in the garden

Time has suspended its flight. The Charolais have joined the stables, but squirrels and faded grasses still brighten up the sleepy countryside.

Lotus and water lilies have disappeared. The frogs have deserted the still surfaces of the pools to reach the dark and muddy abyss.

Now, only the Decorative Malus majestically bending under their frosted fruits illuminate the Garden when the pale rays manage to pierce the cold mists for a fantastic dance of death.

The rain from the leaves

The summer frenzy gives way to harvest time and sweetness. The tones become patinated, make way for pastels.

The light caresses and no longer burns, the water has returned in abundance and it is now necessary to plan the sowing as accurately as possible between morning frosts and the heat of autumn. Little by little, but always too quickly, the Japanese acers have transformed into divas, competing in sumptuousness with the beds of asters and the rose bushes. Curiously, nothing seems to be able to stop the grasses which float to the rhythms of the diaphanous breezes. The memories of the long spring and the frosts are gone, except for the gardener who then takes advantage of this deceptive calm to plant, model and rethink her creation.

Our hosts all year round

Who are we to dare to think that we are “owners” of the place?

We are, at most, only temporary guests, authorized to humbly share its naked beauty.

We are committed to respecting this balance and to guaranteeing the most harmonious possible cohabitation with the wild and domestic fauna which offers us so much Happiness at each turn in the Garden ...