Paris Insights - The Blog

The Domaine de Villarceaux, where the day-long Terres de Bretagne music festival took place on Sunday, September 4, is a beautiful 175 acre park located in Val-d’Oise. The domain is an hour’s drive from Paris. Two châteaux stand there — one with a view of a labyrinth of neatly-trimmed, low-cut shrubbery next to a man-made pond, and the other, high on a hill with a majestic view of the valley.

In Part 1 of this article, I described how I walked beyond the château at the top of the hill to the gate at the far end of the domain. Turning around at the gate, I had a superb view of the manor.

The cobblestone roadway that leads back to the château is bordered by thick woods on either side. There are warning signs advising strollers not to venture into the woods, probably because the trees have not been attended to for the last forty years. I did, however, stop to photograph an intriguing statue that stands there in a tunnel of overgrowth.

Returning to the château, I entered a walkway leading to the basement where the restroom is located. The fleur-de-lys tiles of the floor of the vestibule give an unambiguous sign that aristocrats once occupied this place.

Later, I returned to the château and found it open to concert goers. I entered and took pictures of the sumptuous furnishings. Note the painting of the nude Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon in the dining room.

In the entry hall stands a sculpture of an obviously ecstatic Leda embracing a swan.

Later in the day, people sat on the lawn of the château to watch the concert given there.

To be continued…

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This entry was posted on Sunday, September 11th, 2011 at 07:20 and is filed under festivals, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.