Parterre and Terrace

Stone, vegetation, water, and sky: from the long terrace adjoining the house, the gaze takes in this spectacular view. Like the sphinxes that frame the stairs, the visitor looks out over a parterre further down, its insolent green stretching back towards the vanishing point on the hill and its enigmatic cave.

The Parterre and the Terrace, in William Christie's words:

"When I saw the house and its grounds for the first time in 1985, I immediately had the idea of creating a terraced garden. I also realized that, by acquiring the adjacent plots of land, I could exploit the terrain's gentle descent towards the river to create a long perspective that would continue up the hill on the other side of the Saint-Juiré road. Further up the hill in the same axis the visitor will notice another structure in the same rustic stones: a hermit's cave, which I had built in 2007."
William Christie

Gardener's word

The evergreen columns that stand on the terrace are the star jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides that are trained on a metal frame. During the summer the strong perfumes of the flowers sweetens the air. In autumn and winter the foliage take on burnished red and copper tones.

John Hoyland, advisor for garden design at Glyndebourne and William Christie's friend