Potager des Princes
Tucked behind a stone wall five minutes' walk from the château, the Potager des Princes is a restored 17th-century kitchen garden that has been transformed into an enchanting family domain of themed gardens, free-roaming peacocks, rare poultry breeds and a small animal park — almost entirely unknown to foreign tourists.
History of the Garden
The Potager des Princes was originally created in the 1680s as the kitchen garden supplying the Condé household at the château, designed in the French formal style with geometric vegetable beds, fruit espaliers and cutting-flower borders arranged around a central fountain.
After centuries of neglect following the Revolution, the garden was painstakingly restored from 2002 onwards by Éric and Muriel Corroyer, who replanted the historic varieties of vegetables and fruit trees documented in the Condé household accounts, making it a living archive of 17th-century French horticulture.
What You'll Find Inside Today
The garden is divided into themed sections: a potager proper with heirloom tomatoes, purple artichokes and climbing beans on willow frames; a jardin romantique with rose arbours and a small lake; and a basse-cour (farmyard) where Sebastopol geese, golden pheasants, Indian runner ducks and Ouessant miniature sheep wander freely among the visitors.
Peacocks roam the entire site and have no concept of personal space — they will follow you, pose on benches and occasionally attempt to steal your lunch, which children find absolutely delightful and adults find only mildly less so.
Practical Tips for Your Visit
The Potager des Princes is at 17 Rue de la Faisanderie, a ten-minute walk north of the château along a quiet residential road lined with the stable yards of the racing community — you'll likely pass grooms leading thoroughbreds on their morning walks, which is its own small pleasure.
Visit on a weekday in late spring (May–June) when the rose garden peaks and the vegetable beds are at their most photogenic; the site is rarely crowded on weekday mornings, giving you the run of the peacocks and the kitchen garden almost entirely to yourself.
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