Villandry 20 years ago

I was looking through some old photos and was delighted to find some of the gardens at Villandry taken some 20 or more years ago. I was especially pleased to find one taken at exactly the same spot as one taken in June of this year. The gardens haven't changed so very much in that tie, but the trees and hedges have filled out and thickened (haven't we all!) and you can see that the creepers covering the walls have spread considerably.

Finally a postcard from the same time which shows the extent of the gardens. Several people remarked in my last post that they hadn't realised how large they were.

PhotoHunter: curvy

For my curvy entry this week I am taking you to the formal gardens at the Château de Villandry in France's Loire valley. Formal gardens generally, for me anyway, conjure up visions of straight lines, but in Villandry you can see that they can also contain plenty of curves too.

Everywhere you can see individual features like this curvy piece of topiary.

There are small curvy features everywhere - this is from the side of a rosy bower, itself curvy.

They serve to soften what could otherwise be fairly severe lines.

Below lavender emphasises the curvy shapes within the straight outer hedges. It was mid-June but the lavender was only just coming into flower.

The full effect of the design is probably best seen from above. Beautiful, clean lines can still be curvy.

Villandry does have its own official site but if I'm perfectly honest, it's not anything like the standard I would expect to represent a World heritage site. France for the most part really hasn't yet caught up with the internet.

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PhotoHunter: Row

I thought about a lot of different types of rows: rows of books, rows of vegetables or other crops, but in the end as I was sorting through old photos, I came across these from Venice. Venice is especially close to my heart because my grandfather came from there.

There are rows everywhere in the architecture: arches, pillars, columns, windows.

This is a detail from the Palazzo Santa Sofia, or Ca' d'Oro, which was being renovated when we saw it, and so it was unfortunately partially covered by tarpaulins. Built in 1428, it's hardly surprising that it needs renovation.

Above are arches and columns in the Doge's Palace

From the top of the Campanile, you have a very good view, not only of the rows of columns and arches in the Piazza San Marco, but also the rows of tables set out in the square, if you want to buy a refreshment at an extortionate price!

And here's another sort of row in Venice. It's a scan of an older picture we took about 15 years ago. Two rows of gondolas, one in each direction along a fairly narrow canal. Traffic congestion, Venetian style!

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