Visiting the Gardens at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons. Part 1 – Le Manoir, Lawns, Lavender & Vegetables

“I absolutely love gardens! Way back in 1984, the first thing I did at Le Manoir was create the vegetable garden which would provide for my kitchen and for our guests. Now we have 11 different gardens and a 2,500-strong heritage orchard! Each is inspired by my travels, my childhood, my papa’s garden, books I have read and the wonderful people I have met over the years.” Raymond Blanc.

Created in 1984, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons is the fulfilment of Raymond Blanc‘s personal vision – to create a hotel and restaurant in harmony, where guests will find perfection in food, service and welcome.

I can only start by saying how lucky I feel to be able to visit such a beautiful place and sample such exquisite food. It is a treat indeed!

As a keen vegetable grower, myself, I am so excited to be able to walk all around this immaculately kept kitchen garden. And when I say, ‘all around’, it is literal; from the formal gardens; and extensive orchard; to the vegetable beds; including the polytunnels and the compost heap!

You see food growing from the moment you arrive in the car park. Rather than trying to peak at Le Manoir, look in the opposite direction and you have a glimpse of the enormous orchard. It contains 136 varieties of apples. Now that takes some getting your head around, but we’ll be back there later.

There is a tiny roundabout in the car park where cardoons grow. Even though they have gone over at this time of year, they still have stature. In amongst them are huge artichoke sculptures, they’re the first of many sculptures in the extensive gardens.

Finally on foot exiting the car park, you are drawn down a pathway and treated to the view of the 15th-century Manor House, together with the church in the background.

There are raised borders either side of you, unfortunately most of the flowers have finished blooming, accept for the purple cranesbills.

A few more steps and you are strolling down the infamous lavender pathway punctuated by tightly clipped box balls, it draws you towards the house.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I was talking to you about trimming my own small lavender pathway. I’m pleased to report that Mr Blanc has obviously read my blog, as his lavender was very neatly trimmed back.

The lavender serves so many purposes, not only looking and smelling fabulous at its peak, but it’s used here for culinary purposes too. And that’s before we start to talk about how fabulous it is for attracting bees, and as we all know you can’t have a successful kitchen garden without pollinators!

Lawns and Borders

Beyond the lavender lined paths there are manicured lawns, box topiary and mixed herbaceous borders. Raymond’s choice of colour scheme is mainly white and purple.

Still flowering are white Japanese anemones, the dark purple Salvia ‘Amistad’, beautiful mauve Aster ‘Mauve Magic’, Nepeta – otherwise known as catmint, and the towering ‘Golden oats’ Stipa gigantea grass catching the afternoon sun.

From the lavender path we now follow the house around to your right, where we reach a seating area outside the conservatory. As it is a warm day, people are sitting enjoying drinks and soaking up the atmosphere.

The Real Deal – The Vegetable Patch!

Strolling past the seating area, the pathway now snakes across the lawn, you are heading for a gateway through the high garden wall.

You have entered the productive gardens. You are faced with neatly trimmed box hedging giving the area structure. In front of it is a border filled with yet more structural cardoons, in a border lined with chives.

A short walk to your left and you are confronted with the real deal, rows of organically grown herbs and vegetables.

A large area is planted up with Marigolds, these are one of the most valuable ornamental companion plants for the kitchen garden bringing in many beneficial insects. With the added benefit of looking good too!

Squash & Beans

September is just past the full peak of production, but there is still an enormous amount to be harvested. Including what looks like a field of squashes, both soft-skinned summer courgettes and hard-skinned winter squash for storing.

The French beans look like they were emerging from the squash plants, as they climbed up wig-wams around the edge of the plot.

Swiss Chard & Beetroot

On the other side of the path you could see the brightly coloured stems of Swiss Chard, I wish I liked the taste of it, as it looks lovely in the garden Then again the beetroot I grow at home looks very similar and I have Raymond to thank for that.

My husband has always loved beetroot but I didn’t used to like it. After watching Raymond Blancs programme ‘Kew on a plate’ in 2015 and subsequently buying the book, I made the beetroot tart. It looked and smelled so nice that I tried it and couldn’t believe how good it tasted. I was converted!

In Raymond’s recipe, he used golden beetroots but mentioned Chioggia as a possible replacement – that variety is white with red circles, very pretty. I couldn’t buy either of these anywhere so just used the usual red ones.

The following year I grew ‘Golden Globe’ and ‘Chioggia’, I’ve grown them every year since and I now make the tart with multicoloured beetroot.

Just down from the Swiss chard a wonderful scarecrow sculpture watches over rows of the healthiest looking green and purple Basil.

Art in the Garden

You come across sculptures all around the gardens, they differ hugely from the contemporary and humorous, to very conventional.

So far, I have found; two, extremely long tailed Whydah birds drinking from a fountain in a courtyard; two fallow deer; a little girl, going to market with her basket; two young ladies, sitting quietly reading; ‘The Mother of the garden’ with a basket of fruit; but my favourite so far, are two bright yellow March Hares, boxing.

Something Unusual

At the far end of the pathway is an usual looking tree, with long bean like pods hanging from it. It was apparently an accurate description as it’s called The Indian Bean Tree – Catalpa Bignonioides.

It’s an ornamental tree, grown in the UK for its masses of white, horse chestnut-like flowers, large heart-shaped leaves, and in particular, long runner bean-like pods which can reach up to 450mm, nearly 18″.

Growing just by the tree was a row of something I didn’t recognise and had never heard of. I love finding something new and later discovered what this, Peruvian ground apple ‘Yacon’, actually is.

I learned that it’s a root vegetable that was domesticated by the indigenous peoples of the Andes, but has since spread around the world, ending up in Oxford.

It’s a perennial plant that’s closely related to the sunflower and Jerusalem artichoke. It reaches up to 2.5m high with small yellow flowers, but the edible part is in the ground. It produces crunchy, sweet tasting, juicy, tuberous roots. They resemble sweet potatoes but unlike those tubers these can be eaten raw. Sadly, we didn’t get to taste them as they’re not harvested until winter.

Valley of the Wild Mushrooms

Moving further around you reach the wild mushroom valley – La Vallee de Champignons Sauvages, it was created in 2008 to provide a wide variety of mushrooms for the restaurant and Raymond’s culinary school.

You couldn’t fail to find the valley as there are huge wicker mushrooms at the entrance. They are so large that you can see them from all around the vegetable gardens.

I’m sure when the area was created thirteen years ago, it was thought to look untidy, with the piles of logs scattered around. Now though we know the importance of creating these habitats in our own gardens for wildlife and they have become commonplace.

Completing the Vegetable Garden

Having walked to the end of the vegetable garden, and across the bottom path, we now start heading back in the direction of the house, turning to see the girl reading peacefully.

We pass a large brassica tent with brussels sprouts growing ready for December, and I spy a chef collecting goodies for dinner later. I’m starting to feel hungry!

Completing the stroll around the ornamental gardens and vegetable garden, we’re just left with; the Pond filled with artwork; the Japanese Gardens; the National Heritage and Herb Garden; the Glasshouse and Polytunnells; Compost Heap and Orchid to do. Oh, and the food!

I think we need a break.

Next week – Visiting the Gardens at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons – Part 2

There is a guided garden tour available at Le Manoir for £50 each. This is obviously much more expensive than your average garden visit, but you are getting access to something very special, and it does include Coffee, Tea and Raymond’s biscuits!

Stay safe & happy gardening.