Spring at my favourite chateau

When I last spoke to you about the Château de Miserey, it was June and Madame de Roumilly's rose collection was in full bloom.  Yesterday I crept into the grounds early to enjoy the first spring flowers.

A few years back the Château was chosen (along with Giverny!) by Dutch bulb producers to receive a gift of almost 30.000 spring bulbs.  Most people would faint at the thought of planting 30.000 anything, but not Madame de Roumilly.  Never short of a good idea, a smile and contagious energy, she enrolled the help of all the pupils in the small village school and planting became their autumn project!

In a property of this size there is always something to be done.  Restoring and maintaining the château has been a labour of love for over half a century.  When Monsieur de Roumilly's father bought Miserey from a local farmer, the main (20' ceiling) salon was used for storing hay, and one of the smaller salons was where they made cider.  The floors were only beaten earth, and most of the windows had long been bricked up.

same shot, different season!

The very first buds on a beautiful white magnolia

and primroses allowed to self seed in gravel (I'm going to copy that one!)

Madame de Roumilly used to be a fine horse woman, this water pump and trough
linked to a well is a reminder of the days when her horses were in the park.

I thought that the gardeners among you would appreciate this 'before and after' of 

a climbing rose, - a lesson in curving branches to maximise blooms!

This summer I will have the pleasure of taking people to visit the rose gardens  of Miserey.  We'll probably bump into the owners, pruning, labelling and generally loving this charming property - just the way they have done all their married life.