From Connecticut to County Cork, five estates with magnificent gardens in the style of the French formal garden, or Jardins Remarquable — all from Christie’s International Real Estate
The architectural influences in this magnificent French-inspired château are extraordinary. The great room is modelled on a chapel at Mont Saint-Michel. Across the hall is a beautiful room with antique paneling crafted by Dutch master sculptor Grinling Gibbons, whose carvings grace St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Other notable details include frescoes, limestone fireplaces, and a hall of mirrors. The grounds are equally exquisite: a tennis court and pavilion, pool grotto, and a double stairway leading into a French-style formal garden with a Louis XIV-inspired sun ray pattern set in the grass.
Liss Ard is a grand Victorian manor house set in 163 acres graced with French-inspired formal gardens, woodlands, meadows, and a private 40-acre fishing lake. World-renowned land artist James Turrell designed the estate’s Irish Sky garden, a unique grass crater that provides wonderful views of the open sky. The 19th-century mansion, garden mews house, coach house, and lakeside lodge offer more than 18,000 square feet of living space with 25 bedroom suites.
This medieval château commands more than 103 verdant acres amid the Cognac countryside. The estate has been impeccably restored and luxuriously updated for the 21st century. Many of the original details remain, including the wide, water-filled moat, stone outbuildings, and exquisite French gardens with manicured lawns, reflecting pools, and statuary. The wider estate is an idyllic landscape of pastures, woods, and pristine rivers.
Plaish Hall is a Grade I-listed Tudor house set within 12.75 acres in southern Shropshire. The estate is steeped in history; first mentioned in the Domesday Book, it was substantially restored in the mid-1500s for Elizabethan composer Sir William Leighton. In recent years, the house has been refurbished with modern comforts, yet retains its period character. Of particular note are the formal gardens, featuring lawns, manicured yew hedges, and gravel pathways, bordered by fields, meadows, and woodland.
One of the finest properties on Lake Geneva, this stately 18th-century château is situated on a 66-acre plateau, with breathtaking views of the lake and the Alps beyond. The grounds are composed of French-style formal gardens with allées and stone fountains, bordered by orchards, woods and mature vineyards. The estate’s historic outbuildings include a 19th-century greenhouse, stables, cellars, and a wine-press house.