Journees des Plantes de Chantilly 2018

Last Saturday Jane came with me to see château de CHANTILLY for the first time (my 5th visit but there are always new discoveries).

It was JOURNEES DES PLANTES weekend to boot. Have you been to Chantilly? A 20 minute train ride out of Paris on the Picardie line at Gare de Nord & so worth it!

Hundreds of top floral garden specialists show up to tempt you 🌸

My mother would have been enthralled with these garden 🪴 fetes. I used to touch her gardenia petals no matter how many times warned. My dad used to pay me a penny for every beetle 🪲 I collected off the rose bushes. Maybe I have a green pinkie after all.

My favorite citrus supplier was back from last year, OSCAR TINTORI of Pescia, Italy.

Gorgeous huge clay pots.

Whimsical clay pot 'plates' and 'cups' set à table on a mossy 'tablecloth'

Jane was eager to see Chantilly's fabulous collection of art, biggest next to the Louvre in France.

They used to let you enter via the grand stairway, but now they send you outside to climb up the original chateau entrance, in fact a better experience.

Very grand.

I always discover artworks I'd previously missed like all the Ingres paintings in the red room.

In the past I always turned left and missed the 90 Clouet portrait room.

Renaissance artists, François and Jean Clouet painted all the kings and queens of Europe, including Francois the 1st, Mary Queen of Scots and Catherine de Medici. The portraits are painted on wood with egg tempera, delicate and refined. There's a slew of 300 Clouet drawings hiding somewhere in the castle, yet to be discovered.

The view out the gallery windows of the Le Notre gardens is stunning. We would have loved to sketch on the balcony but not this time..

A captivating view back in the 1600s of Chantilly.

We happily parked ourselves outside to paint.

And eat our picnic lunch.

We were not alone. Many families were picnicing along the banks.

Bring your own eats. Food lines can be long and the wait daunting.

We were lucky 🍀 to have perfectly sunny weather and we had Chantilly mostly to ourselves till the royal wedding watchers arrived later on in droves. Ice cream may be a no-no but its impossible to resist fresh Chantilly whipped cream at its namesake, oui? TAKE A LOOK on Etsy for more Chantilly watercolors.

Monet's Giverny gardens await tomorrow. 

Xxx Cheers PBers 🍦