The beauty of this place is extremely difficult to convey in words.
When the end of the XVII century, a small manor in the commune of Vezac, was in the possession of the Bishop of Sarlat, Francois de Salignac, he wished to have gardens not worse than the king.
Call Andre Le Notre directly with him, though, didn’t have the courage, so he turned to his nephew Fenelon serving as a mentor to the little Dauphin at Versailles. Turning pale and blushing, she gave her uncle’s request, Le Notre. And he, without hesitation, sent to the distant Dordogne his best student by the name of Porsche. According to his plans and was laid a beautiful garden.
In 1861, the owner of the estate became the master of Sarlat Julien de Serval, a great admirer of everything beautiful, and especially Italy. All his life he put on “improvements” to the garden and a Fort built West wing, planted and trimmed in the General style cypresses, successfully interspersing them with the existing bushes of boxwood, arranged lawns with Neapolitan cyclamen, flowering until the first frosts. And so in this case succeeded that servile-in-law, Baron Maximilian d Earp has taken the liberty to call and stay in Marqueyssac Bishop of Mantua, the future Pope Pius X. The beautiful garden was filled and even blessed him.
The abandoned gardens have never been, but still came in some decline, in which he remained until 1996, while the enthusiastic Kleber Rossion, obsessed with restoring the cultural heritage of the Dordogne, has not led the garden in its original condition, based on drawings and sketches from the library of the manor.
Among all this beauty – six kilometers of tracks and paths, which lead to the Belvedere, from which you can look at the valley of the Dordogne river, located along the castles, hills and villages. Thanks to this feature, estate Marqueyssac got its second name – “the Hanging gardens”.
To visit this man-made miracle, UNESCO-protected, all year round for 8,80 € 4,40 for adults and € children, but special chic – night tours by candlelight, held every Thursday in July and August for 14,50 €.
