I have a great respect for Gilles Clement and have long admired his work. So I made a specific effort to visit Beauregard to see the garden he made in the old kitchen garden at Chateau de Beauregard. A sunken rectangular area, approached by a beautiful flight of steps giving access from the park.
The space within is divided by hedges into a series of twelve compartments.
To link the garden thematically with the chateau and it’s renowned gallery of portraits, each area is associated with a personality in French history and designated a specific colour. Information boards show a portrait of the character represented and a list of the planting used to bring the appropriate colour. However it is now over twenty years since this garden was originally planted and the planned mixture of select perennials and self-seeding annuals has now been reduced to tracts of bare earth juxtaposed against clumps of the most vigorous and thug like perennials – witness to a complete lack of caring and knowledgeable management.
The intention of the designer has been completely lost and the garden is currently a disappointment. A sad testament to the fragility of this type of planting, even by such a renowned master.