The magnificent gardens of Marqueyssac

The town of Vézac in the Dordogne region of France is home to one of the world’s most magnificent landscapes, the famed Gardens of Marqueyssac. Laid out on a cliff, overlooking the Dordogne valley between Beynac and La Roque-Gageac, the Marqueyssac gardens cover an area of 22 hectares. There are over 150,000 hand-carved century-old box-trees and adorned with belvederes, rocks, water, grass glades, dry-stone huts, roundabout, a Gothic chapel, and playgrounds for children.

The chateau and the garden surrounding it were built at the end of the 17th century by Bertrand Vernet de Marqueyssac, Counsellor to Louis XIV, on cliffs overlooking the Dordogne valley. The original garden à la française was attributed to a pupil of André Le Nôtre, and featured terraces, alleys, and a kitchen garden surrounding the chateau. Between 1830 and 1840, Julien Bessières constructed a chapel and a grand alley one hundred metres long for horseback rides.


In the 1860s, the new owner, Julien de Cervel, began to plant thousands of boxwood trees and had them carved in fantastic shapes, many in groups of rounded shapes like flocks of sheep. He also added linden trees, cypress trees, and stone pine from Italy, and introduced the cyclamen from Naples. Following the romantic style, he built rustic structures, redesigned the parterres, and laid out five kilometres of walks.

In the second half of the 20th century, the house was not frequently occupied, and the gardens were not well maintained. Beginning in 1996, a new owner, Kleber Rossillon, restored the gardens to their old character, and added some new features, including an alley of santolina and rosemary, and in the romantic spirit of the 19th century, a course of water descending from the belvedere and ending in a cascade. The gardens were opened to the public in 1996.