DOMAINE DE VILLARCEAUX

On the edge of the Val d’Oise, the former Domaine de Ninon de Lenclos, Villarceaux, nestles in the hollow of a Vexin valley. This jewel of Ile-de-France heritage, whose gardens were gradually designed and laid out in the Middle Ages, then in the Renaissance and finally in the 18th century, has been reinvested by the Ile-de-France region.

Signes has taken up the challenge of bringing the estate back to life, building on the traces of the garden and exploiting the natural water circuit that has developed over the years. Today, the redeveloped water features reaffirm the terraces, half-moons, parterres and vertugadins that were part of the heritage composition and now house that of a new, contemporary garden. A parterre evocative of Androuet du Cerceau’s embroidery, set against a lace of water, is the continuation of the gardens’ history.