Château Gaillard

Château Gaillard, which was purchased and renovated by an erudite French luxury goods executive, opened to the public in 2016. A true labor of love, the crumbling manor is now glowing after careful restoration. But the gardens and the orangerie are the stars here. A forgotten royal paradise, this estate is where the art of gardening took root in France. The most famous Renaissance-era Italian landscape architect, Dom Pacello di Mercoliano (‘the Pope of orange trees’) established the first Renaissance gardens in France at the invitation of King Francois I in 1515. He acclimatized the first orange trees in France and developed the luscious Reine Claude plum here. The owner has painstakingly restored Dom Pacello’s original orangerie and populated it with over 100 varieties of citrus trees.