A week or so ago we visited a wonderful chateau and garden called Les Jardin Suspensdus de Marqueyssac.  It is a magical place.  We had a perfect day for it too- a bit overcast and slightly cool.  The French for it is "Frais" or fresh, which is the perfect way to describe it.  There is a chateau of course and the gardens closest to the chateau have box hedges that are cut into balls and swirls and all kinds of cool shapes.  I tried to get a good picture of it but never really captured it (think Edward Scissorhands).  The link above has a great picture of the swirly hedges.  The entire place is perched atop a mountain or plateau type area with amazing views all around.  It also had scary drops and cliffs and all sorts of areas that make parents of 3 and 5 year olds cringe with fear.  We spent half the day telling them to "watch out!", "no running!" or "hold hands!".  Despite that, it was one of our best days here.  The kids had a blast and we were wide-eyed and in awe the while time.  For a taste of some of those sheer drops, have a look at this...

 

 

On the sides of this balcony is a drop off, really, really steep and high.  It was an awesome view though!  Wandering throughout the property were peacocks.  The kids thought that was one of the coolest things they had seen in a while.  We watched him for a long time.  He was enjoying the view too.  Sayer was worried about him falling off.  He kept asking me "what would happen if he slipped?" and "Can he fly?".  They both jumped about 2 feet high when he perked up his feathers and started to screech.  He opened his beak way up and let out a really loud call.

 

 

Two of my favorite plants are rosemary and lavender.  Here they are perfectly paired and coifed.  The fragrance was beautiful. 

 

 

This place was perfectly paced for a family outing.  Every so often (right around the time when the kids would start complaining about the hike) there would be some cool little discovery or activity.  At one point there was a table out on the lawn where they got to do an art project (they painted rocks).  A while after the rocks we found this cool tree house, a playground and a cold drink machine stocked with their favorite, Orangina (think of them saying it like Orange-Gina).

 

 

On top of one of the trails, we found this monument.  Looking out at this view on top of this bluff, you could see why they built this.  Whatever your God may be, this is one of those places in the world where you feel just a little closer to it. 

  

 

True to the form of this place, after the cool trimmed hedges, the peacocks, the curvy rosemary, the rock painting, the religious experience and the tree house, you stumble upon this...

 

 

Atop one cliff we found this cloche style structure.  It was a defensive building where a guard would stand watch.  Many of these buildings withstood the Hundred Years War and The French Revolution so guards were definitely in order.  From this stone perch, you could see the Dordogne River and a huge section of the river valley.  The other really cool feature of this house was that the roof was entirely dry stacked- no mortar at all.  Amazing!

 

 

They definitely know how to whip the plants into shape around here.  We found this cool tunnel on the way back to the chateau. 

 

 

One other cool thing that we found on our way back was a children's forest.  Pictures couldn't capture it.  Take my word for it.  You might not even see it if you weren't paying attention.  I was walking with Finn (Sayer was ahead of us) and we see a little wooden gate and it said something like "Labyrinthe pour les Enfants".  When you stooped down to enter it, you see that they have planted these small hedges that form tunnels and trails through the brush (not dense like a maze though).  There were trails all throughout a small section of forest made just for children.  In the center there was a small wooden house.  It was AMAZING!  The kids loved it.  I had to stoop down to make it through most of the trails.  I also had to wipe spider webs off my face numerous times but we had a great time chasing each other through the children's forest to, what they called, "their house".  It really was magical.  I would have loved it as a child.  I mean I loved it as an adult!  As a small child, you would have had to drag me kicking and screaming out of that place.  After lots of magical forest play, it was time to eat.  Can you imagine a prettier table?  We had a great lunch with lots of ice cream afterwards.  The ice cream even came with pretty little feather butterfly decorations on them.

 

 

That's all for Marqueyssac.  Mark it on your travel to-do list.  It's worth the stop for sure.