Park and gardens

With its various natural areas, the Château de Bouges is the ideal place for a stroll.

To the origins

The Bouges estate has long been a vast territory that has evolved through the various owners, their land acquisitions and sales.

Thanks to the archives, it is now possible to assess and trace certain changes. Always in tune with the times, gardens have changed with the times: from forest to structured park (18th century), from yew and fruit gardens (Middle Ages) to formal gardens (Renaissance)... What is certain is that the site as we know it today is largely the work of the last two owner families and landscape architects Henri and Achille Duchêne.

Only thebridle path in front of the château can be dated to the Marnaval period (late 18th century).

Château de Bouges, façade est vue de l'allée cavalière
© Étienne Revault / Centre des monuments nationaux

Modern history

As early as 1830, there was a draft English-style park with winding paths and a gradually enlarged pond. After restoring the buildings, the Dufour family (1857-1917) turned their attention to the greenery surrounding the château. To do so, they called on the Duchêne family, specialists in garden design combining regular French-style parterres with subtle English-style parkland.

In the main courtyards: boulingrins and, extending the East-West perspective, the green carpet with its water buffet and boxwood topiaries. For the park to the north, a more natural treatment is used, with meadows and vistas for the eye, and plantings of purple beech, liquidambar, American red oak and tulip tree, whose colors change with the seasons. When the Viguier couple bought the estate in 1917, they completed the layout and restored certain elements.

On the site of the former kitchen garden, Renée Viguier created the "bouquetier" flower garden , a new space in the Belle Époque spirit to satisfy her passion for flowers. The small greenhouses are used for seedling production, while the large central greenhouse or "pavilion" houses exotic varieties and serves as storage for varieties to be transplanted or duplicated. The garden can be visited from June to October, with a preference for July-August for full flowering. The only changes this garden has undergone since its creation have been imposed by disease and climate change. In order to preserve such spaces, we have to make concessions to history. This also applies to certain replantings in the park.