Parks and gardens
When the beauty of nature is combined with the expertise of Man … Aquitaine gardens become an open-air theatre of the everyday and the extraordinary, a place for walks, discoveries, encounters … life, quite simply. 
There are 95 parks and gardens protected as historic monuments; 23 are listed and 29 bear the ‘Jardin Remarquable’ label awarded by the Ministry of Culture.
Italian, English, Medieval, botanical, “nymphées”*, terraces, bamboo gardens… there is a whole host of floral beauties and masterpieces of plant architecture.
There are also various entertaining events: painting competition, falconry demonstration, box-tree pruning workshop, a gardening books fair … Gardeners instruct the public and relate their experience in guided tours.
Classical, with their 18th-century lines, are the gardens of the Eyrignac Manor House, not far from Sarlat. Its 40 km of hedges made up of hornbeams, yews and box-trees are pruned by hand and have been protected for 22 generations by the family that owns the estate.
Panoramic, the hanging gardens of Marqueyssac offer a twofold delight of beautiful greenery and sublime views over the Dordogne River, the castles and the surrounding villages.
“Taste the light, breathe in the colours, and caress the aromas: you are in the gardens of the imaginary”. It was in Terrasson-Lavilledieu, in Black Périgord, that this contemporary garden opened in 1997. It is composed of 13 themed areas and is a real paradise lost.
Even more recent are the botanical gardens of Bordeaux-Bastide, giving the historical botanical gardens of the Jardin Public a chance to grow and strollers a chance to discover the plant world. A perfect opportunity to step out of the city and out of time.
In the Landes area, Sarrat Park in Dax or the gardens of Château de Gaujacq and its nursery are both great ideas for walks. 
In the Lot-et-Garonne area in Temple sur Lot, the 200 varieties of water lilies in the Latour-Marliac gardens supplied the house of Claude Monet in Giverny. NB: visits are only possible during the flowering season, from May to September.
Finally, if you are staying close to the spa resort of Cambo-les-Bains in the Basque Country, there is the Villa Arnaga and its gardens, imagined by the author of Cyrano.
* A “nymphée” is a natural or artificial grotto in which a source or fountain gushes, and which evokes the presence of nymphs.
See our themed file "The delights of gardens"
