1693

The vegetable garden was originally about 10 acres but that was inadequate so La Quintinye threw caution to the wind and developed what is said to be history’s most ambitious kitchen garden-cum-orchard covering 25 acres (over 12 football pitches). It was developed as both a working garden and as a showpiece. It had a circular pond and fountain in the middle. Arranged around this were 16 vegetable plots surrounded by a wall to form the Grand Carré and behind that were 29 gardens with fruit trees and vegetables all creating their own microclimates which enabled him to grow pears and figs very early in the season. It was such an enormous enterprise that it required the employment of 30 experienced gardeners. They grew 50 varieties of Pears that Louis used to send to other heads of State and Ambassadors. La Quintinye supervised the gardens until his death in 1688. There were bad times for the garden during the French revolution but by 1848 under Auguste Hardy, the garden grew nine thousand species of vegetables, 309 varieties of apples, 557 varieties of pears, and 94 varieties of peaches. The gardens are still open today.