A day in Chédigny

Our tips 17th May 2021

Chédigny, remarkable garden village

You have surely already visited beautiful parks and remarkable gardens, but what you discover in Chédigny is beyond botanical emotion. In the middle of its 1000 rose bushes, hundreds of shrubs and more than 3000 perennials, the inhabitants of this village in South Touraine cultivate both plants and human relationships. If the climbing roses wander from facade to facade, the Chédignois welcome visitors with a sense of sharing.

An immersion for all the senses

The experience of a visit to Chédigny stimulates all the senses. The sight, with the profusion of shapes and colors, the smell, with the intoxicating scents of roses in summer, the touch, by the silky petals or the roughness of the foliage and tufa stone. And the taste will you tell me? Some flowers are edible, especially in the priest's garden. And then there is the vine, still too young to give much fruit (you still need a little patience). The baker offers meringues, including a rose scent, and the restaurant Le Clos aux Roses, an excellent restaurant awarded with a Michelin Bib gourmand, serves elegant and refined cuisine (reservations strongly recommended).

Wander the streets and beyond

Unique French village labeled remarkable garden by the Ministry of Culture, a Golden Flower in the national competition of towns and villages in bloom, its adventure is botanical and human. Since 1998, elected officials and residents have never ceased to join forces to design an exceptional flowering which, among other virtues, has magnified its streets and alleys, pacified traffic. Many artists opening their workshops to the public were seduced by this landscape quality.

The flowering spreads mainly over the old town. Among the unmissable spots, the wash house, invaded by lianas or the church, with its garden of boxwood cut into topiary, decorated with old stelae evoking a disappeared necropolis.
The inhabitants have also largely reinvested the development of their private gardens, offering visitors harmonious perspectives beyond the walls and fences.

Near the church and the old presbytery, Chédigny has resuscitated its priest's garden. Divided into five parts, it combines many varieties of perennials and annuals.

As tradition dictates, it is structured around a fountain where walkways meet dividing beds surrounded by low boxwood hedges. You stroll between the vegetable garden, for the nourishment of the body, the simple ones, for the treatments, the bouquetier, for the flowers decorating the altar and finally, the aromatics.

A huge arbor where trellised fruit trees flourish (apples and pears from the region), a space for small red fruits (currants and raspberries), a few trees under which to sit and meditate and a square of exotic plants harmoniously complete this garden.

At the forefront of this show, the terrace of the tea room of the former presbytery, a very beautiful XNUMXth century building, welcomes botany enthusiasts as well as hikers, cyclists from the Loire by bike and the Indre by bike and other passing tourists.

Wet meadows to discover with dry feet

The wet meadows of Chédigny were labeled Sensitive Natural Space in 2020. At the confluence of the Orfeuil stream with the Indrois, the promenade, about one kilometer, follows the meanders of the rivers. Overlooking the river, a pontoon offers a nice view of the stone bridge and the pastures on the other bank. The walk continues through a large reed bed and the marsh area. Informative panels on the flora and fauna mark out the discovery trail of this wild space of nearly five hectares.

A living experience from April to October

From spring to the beginnings of autumn, Chédigny is sometimes flamboyant, sometimes more intimate. The peak of blooming of roses occurs from May to June when the reddening of the foliage manifests itself around mid-September. Each season has its own atmosphere, its atmosphere. The seasons are also punctuated by the cultural events of the village: rose festival in June, baroque music festival in September, artists' workshops, associative bar "Chez Jeanne" all summer, the excuses to go and return in Chédigny are not lacking.