GARDENS OF IMAGINATION

LES JARDINS DE L'IMAGINAIRE

Classed as one of the Notable Gardens of France, Les Jardins de l'Imaginaire (The Gardens of Imagination) in Terrasson, in the Périgord, are a contemporary creation, designed in 1996 by Franco-American landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson.

This is a 6-hectare park of terraced gardens in the heart of an ancient town, and that alone is a rarity worth seeking out. The gardens tell a story through sensation and emotion, a constant invasion of your senses that is surprisingly refreshing. They seem to counterbalance the older gardens of the Dordogne, and reflect modern artistic trends in landscape gardening.

This is, quite simply, a place of joy, peace and natural beauty, constructed in a way that pays homage to Périgord and its people. Using the eponymous 'imagination', you can listen here to the heartbeat of the world around you, and arouse sensations of anticipation and curiosity: combine the sensory, the dream-like and the extraordinary across a canvas of creative artistry. This is a one-of-a-kind site, in a beautiful location between Sarlat and Lascaux, containing 2,000 rosebushes; 20,000 perennials; 2,500 box hedges; 120 sprays of water; more than 150 plant species; 8,000 trees and bushes including rare species; terraces; a theatre-in-the-green; a hedge tunnel; woodlands; a viewpoint; water gardens; and many other features all overlooking the Vézère river.