Great Gardens

Our favourite gardens to visit this spring

Cities are growing larger and larger, taking over neighbouring fields and turning quaint villages into drab suburbs. In city centres, high-rises replace older buildings while streets are broadened and transformed into highways. In this urban age, verdant gardens have become a place to escape the asphalt jungle, to breathe fresh air and to be surrounded by organic materials and shapes. In gardens, time moves at a slower pace. Being here restores balance and gives you perspective; it makes you remember what’s actually important in life, and that nature is the basis of all life. 

Villa Cimbrone, Ravello

The first “golden era” of Ravello occurred in the 11^th century. This is also when the first mentions of Villa Cimbrone can be found in local records. The name comes from the large estate that once stood here – eight hectares known as “Cimbronium”. 

Initially, it belonged to the aristocratic Acconciajoco family, but in the 13^th century, it was passed to the Fuscos, a local noble family, related not only to the influential Pitti family in Florence but also to the D’Angiò family in Naples. After that, it became part of a nearby monastery, which is why the papal arms of Cardinal Della Rovere were placed over the old entrance gate. In summary of its long history, the villa and its gardens have changed owners several times through the centuries, and every owner has both preserved but also added something to the place. 

In 1861, historian Ferdinand Gregorovius described his impressions of the gardens: 

”Incomparable ... where the most beautiful flowers you can imagine flourished, coming from numerous plants of the South ... redesigned and enriched with countless ornamental features, small temples, pavilions, bronze and stone statues.”

A few decades after Gregorovius’ visit, in 1904, Englishman Ernest William Beckett (later Lord Grimpthorpe) fell in love with this place. The gardens are a place of their own, with their own logic, ruled by natural beauty, which is what drew him here. Beckett enlarged both the villa and the gardens by constructing battlements, terraces, and cloisters in a hybrid blend of neo-Gothic, Moorish, and Venetian styles. 

Gossip at the time claimed that Beckett was the father of Violet Trefusis, widely known today for her intimate relationship with Vita Sackville-West. 

Both Trefusis and Sackville-West are among the most celebrated garden designers of the British 20^th century, and spent much time in Ravello with Violet’s presumed father.

It’s no wonder that the gardens of Villa Cimbrone are considered among the most beautiful in Europe. 

After Beckett’s death, the garden was tended to by his daughter, Lucy Katherine Beckett, who was a keen breeder of roses, including the “Rose of Ravello”, which she developed in the 1930s. 

The villa was a hotspot for the intellectual elite and could count among its many guests Virginia Woolf (who loosely based the novel “Orlando” on the character of Vita Sackville-West), E. M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes, Lytton Strachey, Diana Mosley, Henry Moore, T. S Eliot, Greta Garbo, and Winston Churchill. 

What is it that draws people to this garden? In contemporary times, the Amalfi Coast has been turned into a consumer machinery. Granted, it costs a few euros to enter the gardens, but once inside, you can stay for hours, enjoying the views, scents from the flowers and sound of the wind gently caressing the trees. 

Being here connects you with nature, it’s a reminder that there is more to life than merely doing things: You can simply allow yourself to be in the moment, giving you the freedom not to worry about the future or dwell on the past. 

The geographical location of the park, 350 metres above sea level, means that it is suspended above the Amalfi Coast, seemingly a world of its own. 

This is the gift of this garden, as it is of all gardens, which is also why Gore Vidal answered the way he did, when asked about what he remembered most from his many travels: 

”Twenty-five years ago I was asked by an American magazine what was the most beautiful place that I had ever seen in all my travels and I said the view from the belvedere of the Villa Cimbrone on a bright winter's day when the sky and the sea were each so vividly blue that it was not possible to tell one from the other.”

Jardins de Marqueyssac, Vézac

The region of la Dordogne is one of the most unspoiled in France. Unlike its neighbour Bordeaux, Dordogne flies under the radar for many people, even though it is one of the most popular holiday destinations for the French. Its many castles and manor houses bear witness of its rich history. 

The region’s capital is the town of Perigueux, which is why the French often informally refer to the area as “le Périgord”. 

The Marqueyssac Gardens are in the Périgord noir, located in the south part of the region, considered the “classic” Dordogne. The gardens are a spectacular site to visit, often referred to as “the soul of Périgord noir.” They include over six kilometres of shaded pathways, lined with 150,000 hand-pruned boxwoods, offering panoramic views of the entire Dordogne Valley.

Three of the paths lead to le Belvédère, a cliff 800 metres from the chateau, 192 metres high and 130 metres above the river below. The paths are built around a small castle, which in its current form dates back to the late 18th century, around the time of the French revolution.

The gardens were created by Julien de Cerval in the years following 1861, when he returned to France after defending the Papal States. 

Boxwoods have been used in European gardens since at least Roman Antiquity and an integral part of the Italian culture that de Cerval was so invested in. The garden became his life’s work, merging his interest in Italy with his French heritage and thus creating what is widely considered one of the finest examples of 19th century gardens.

Throughout the years, his original plans have been both preserved and added to.

Today there are also small staircases, three drystone huts, a large esplanade, rock gardens and several benches carved into the rocks.

During World War II, the chateau was home to the great-grandfather of its current owner, Marius Rossillon, more famous as O’Galop and the founder of Michelin’s famous mascot Bibendum (in 1898).

Besides inventing the famous Michelin-character, he was also an artist and illustrator. Setting up his atelier in nearby Beynac in 1904, he spent his summers here ever since, and then relocating to escape Paris during the Nazi occupation, trading watercolor-paintings for fresh produce and in this way helping his family to survive the war.

Villa San Michele, Anacapri

Villa San Michele, in the northeast part of the small town of Anacapri, and with a spellbinding view of the Gulf of Naples, was built by the Swedish author and physician Axel Munthe in the last part of the 19th century. 

When Munthe bought the land, 327 metres above sea level, it was already terraced, perhaps a remnant of the imperial Roman villa that once stood here. This was a structure that he kept, while also preserving the ruins that are still visible in the garden. 

There were also remains of a mediaeval church, which was rebuilt to its present form. 

On the balustrade that overlooks the sea, in front of the chapel, a three thousand year old Egyptian sphinx contributes to the garden's almost metaphysical atmosphere. 

The garden spirals gently upwards, removed from the crowds of visitors and tourists that overflow other corners of the island, in this way offering a reflection of the romantic and symbolic taste typical of this period. Behind the garden lies the Monte Barbarossa, a mountain along with the thousand-year ruins of a fortress, Castello Barbarossa, which Munthe turned into a sanctuary for migratory birds.  This includes an ornithological station, strategically placed at midpoint between the tropical winter and their nesting areas in Sweden and around the Baltic Sea, offering the birds a place to rest without risking harm from humans. 

The way that the house and garden invites all of nature’s elements is Villa San Michele’s most striking feature, described in Munthe’s book The Story of San Michele as, ''I want my house open to sun, wind and the voice of the sea, as a Greek Temple, and light,

light, light everywhere!” 

The pergola is where Munthe would dine when entertaining guests, the gentle breeze and fresh air creating a sense of liberation and relaxation, offering close contact with the star-filled skies and salt ocean winds. After one such evening, Swedish sculptor Carl Milles wrote that the pergola was, “the most beautiful expression of the infinite” that he had ever experienced. What he referred to was the deliberate curved shape of thepergola, an architectural trick that makes it appear almost endless, as you can never see both ends at the same time. 

In the garden, Munthe mixed Mediterranean flora with plants from other continents, that would thrive in the particular microclimate that Anacapri offers.The rarities include Kochia Saxicola, a plant in danger of extinction, and that only survives in Capri and Strombolicchio. 

The garden ends with an avenue of thirty cypress trees, stretching from the chapel down to the sarcophagus by the exit. The trees were brought here from Villa d’Este in Tivoli, and while Munthe lived here, he would walk up and down this part of the garden, hoping to cure his insomnia this way. 

Kew Gardens, London

The origins of Kew Gardens in southwest London can be traced to the merging of the royal estates of Richmond and Kew in 1772. A few years before, several garden structures had been planned, including the Great Pagoda (built in 1761) which still remains. It’s a perfect place to visit during a long London weekend. At Kew, you can spend an entire day strolling aimlessly, visiting palm houses and stopping for coffee or a light lunch. 

Kew Gardens has a large variety of historic buildings. Kew Palace is a British royal palace, dating to 1631, while the Palm House was built in the 1840s, today considered the world’s most important surviving glass and iron structure. All its panes of glass are hand-blown. The Temperate House, twice as large as the Palm House, followed later in the 19th century (and took 40 years to construct). These houses are perfect to visit when the weather is less than ideal for outdoor strolling. In fact, visiting the large palm-houses on a rainy day makes the experience of walking around under large palm trees even more exotic. 

The “Five Lions” are five trees that have survived since 1792: a ginkgo, a pagoda tree, an oriental plane, a black locs, and a Caucasian elm. There is also a canopy walkway that takes visitors on a 200 metres walk 18 metres above the ground. The entire structure sways in the wind. In 2016, The Hive, a multi-sensory experience highlighting the life of bees, was inaugurated. Designed by Wolfgang Buttress, it was created using thousands of aluminium pieces presented in the shape of a honeycomb. Initially only planned as a temporary exhibition, it was made a permanent feature of the gardens due to its popularity. 

When you grow tired of walking, head over to the Orangery, designed by William Chambers in 1761, currently used as a restaurant and café.