Festival des Jardins, Chaumont-sur-Loire
Loire Valley

Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire hovering above its support village and the Loire River.

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This château is very easy to reach from the central Loire Valley and has a lovely fairy-tale appearance but the bugcrew did not enter the castle itself, suspecting that - like other chateaux with specialities - the alternatives would be of minor interest.

We were focused on the gardens and particularly the section hosting the apparently unhinged International Garden Festival, le Festival International des Jardins, that runs annually from the end of April to mid-October.

Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire.

A meditation/yoga garden, one of 26 wildly differing spaces in the Festival International des Jardins. The 2010 Garden Festival title was 'Jardins corps et âme', Body and Soul Gardens.

The tea garden.

Press-a-button-and-Listen-to-various-Bird-Songs Garden.

Newly-marrieds enjoying the Smashed-Mirror Garden.

The Hemp (Cannabis) Garden.

The Prayer Garden. Hmm..is there some kind of theme running here?

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Photos of Loire Chateaux and towns

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