n°15 Le Jardin du Château Bellenau

Saint-Côme-du-Mont

Somewhere between romanticism and modernism - the creation of a dreamer and botanist of the 19th Century

A young student of medicine, Pierre-Joseph La Fosse (1828-1897), started this endeavour at the age of 22, and spent the rest of his life adding to it. Following the windings of the Douve river he created a network of canals and lakes, scattered with islands accessible by either boat or footbridges and gangways.

He constructed grottos and caverns, and a Japanese garden which is overlooked by a tower offering a panoramic view of the park.  But mainly, he planted exotic plants, palms, ferns sequoias, and cedars which are flourishing today a century and a half later on.   To visit Bellenau is thus an irresistible time machine trip back to the 19th century.

This year from the 22nd April to 21st December, the exhibition ‘flowing water’ sets the scene for fountains and water jets amongst the plants, canals and lakes.  On Saturday evenings throughout the summer, the garden is lit up.

Collections

• pine trees
• cordylines
• palms
• ferns

Outstanding plants

• evergreen oak (Quercus ilex), one of the biggest to be found in the region
• sequoia
• ginkgo
• araucaria
• bald cypress (Taxodium distichum)
• loquat (Eriobotrya japonica)
• Trachycarpus fortunei

Surface

• 2.5 acres