Château de la Bourdaisière

From 01/01/2013 to 21/04/2013

Destination Gardens

The Gardener-Prince Who Loves Tomatoes

The Château de la Bourdaisière, a 55-hectare walled-in park with giant sequoias and Monterrey Cypress just east of Tours, houses the French National Collection of Tomatoes, created in 1998 by the ‘Gardener-Prince' Louis-Albert de Broglie. The collection is unique in the world and features 650 varieties, many of which were brought back from travels in India and Asia.

Also on the grounds is the contemporary biodiversity ‘Dahliacolor' garden, created in 2008 by Martine de Roquefeuil, and remodelled in 2009 by the famous landscape artist Louis Benech, which has 180 varieties of dahlias as well as a selection of ancient and modern medicinal plants.

The château also doubles as a first-class hotel, complete with swimming pool, tennis court and cookery classes that begin right in the château's splendid kitchen garden. So plan on staying over if you can - not only is there plenty to see, there is also plenty to do.