Built in 1620, the château de la Ballue was, at the begining
of the 19th century and in the middle of the twentieth, a priviledged
place for the writers and the artists.
Although la Ballue was left alone for 30 years - its formal gardens
had returned to a wild meadow when in 1973 started their restoration
- reinterpreted and with a new design,- they regain nowdays, their
original nature besides a contemporary garden inspired by the 17th
century baroque play with perpective and light and shadow.
Separated from the formal garden by the wisteria alley supported by
12 colums of taxus, the side garden was designed by two futurists architects
François Hebert Stevens & Paul Maymont in the purest mannerist
style.
An initiatory path, a green maze which can only be understood at the
end of it, so man can have a global vision of it and which offers 13
surprises from the mysterious chamber to the musical one, from the
one covered with fern, to the booby trap chamber then to the sented
chamber, the green theatre to Diana’s temple, and the maze by
itself.
HISTORY
■ Classical gardens created on the terrace facing south, in the
XVIIth century, abandoned, turned into a patato field...
■ In 1973 creation by two futurist architects of :
- a diagonal garden of surprises by Paul Maymont
- a classical garden by François-Hebert Stevens.
■ Union of modern geometrical movement and classical symbolism.
■ A labyrinth of path, play with perspectives & secret chambers.
■ 1989-1995 gardens left alone. Everything returned wild and
the trees growing high.
■ 1996 gardens re-discovered by their new owners Marie-France Barrère & Alain
Schrotter.
■ Playing with the growth of the trees that have become bare
at the foot, add of a new vision & a new dimension.
■ Play with light & shadow, re-creation of some of the inner chambers
adding more historical & intellectual references. Harmony in green,
blue and white.
■ Add of side visions.
■ With passion and originality, expression and transmission of love
for harmony between traditional architecture and contemporary art.
■ 1999 the gardens become a historical monument.
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