The Gardens of the Castle at Freÿr / Meuse

1 : the Waterbed

2 : the linden Quincunx

3 : the vertical Axis, the Ha-ha

4 : the Orange Trees

5 : the Orangeries

6 : the View on the valley

7 – 9 : the hornbeam Hedges

10 : the Le Nôtre Perspective

11 : Pavilion Frederic Hall

12 : the large Pond

13 -14 : towards the Cupola

15 -16 : the Cradle, the Clock

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The Gardens of the Castle at Freÿr / Meuse

The Freÿr castle, park and surroundings are classified as a monument on the list of Exceptional Heritage Estates in Wallonia. They are also on the tentative list of UNESCO’s World Heritage.

We thank heartily Geert E. Van Brandt f²or the verification of this translation from French intoEnglish.

The path to follow is indicated in italic script Take care when walking on the stairs and near the ponds and walls

Parents, please see that your children do not throw gravel in the ponds or touch the statues

THE CREATORS OF THE GARDENS

In mid-18th century, Guillaume (William) de Beaufort-Spontin, head canon at Namur cathedral,and then his younger brother Philippe (Philip), an encyclopedist and member of a lodge, becamesuccessive guardians of their orphaned nephews and so started revamping, each in turn, the twowalled Renaissance gardens surrounding the house, which had been sketched (here below) byRemacle le Loup.

You will discover the classical but intimate gardens they developed while transforming the houseinto the Beaufort-Spontin family’s summer residence. The gardens provide a remarkable degreeof unity in spite of the two brothers’ different innate conceptions.

By following the plan hereunder, see how William redrew the two Renaissance gardens into:

A : the lower garden, a contemplative garden, downstream towards DinantB : the hedge garden converted into an esplanade in 1970, upstream towards France

After the death of William (1766) Philip added: C : a kitchen garden, transformed into a plantation in 1960, upstream, D : the upper garden, an intimate garden consisting of small labyrinths, downstream, E : a vertically oriented French style garden enclosed by the pavilion (called Frederic Hall)

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The Gardens of the Castle at Freÿr / Meuse

F : He completed his project by adding two romantic parks (now gone), one upstream called thehorseshoe, and another downstream located at the end of the beech-alley starting behind theorangeries.

THE LOWER GARDEN (1)

William made a sober rearrangement of the Renaissance garden, adding seven new ponds andlinden trees in a staggered formation to create a whole, with the water, the greenery and thegravel providing harmony in line with the axes parallel and perpendicular to the river.

Parallel to the Meuse, three parts stand out that reflect William’s spiritual and religiousinclination: - the four ponds, whose murmuring encourages you to spend a moment to yourself (1)- the linden trees, whose shade and alignment of their trunks remind us of the columns of themosque in Cordoba, and induce you to contemplate (2)- and the two large ponds surrounded by scented orange trees, where the light reflects on thewater and invite you to meditate (4).

William planted the linden trees (2) in the middle, which has the following effects:- they hide the orangeries built in the early 18th century, and thereby remove the possibility ofassessing the size of the entire garden - they reduce the visual field along the main axis and hence generate a perspective effect - they provide visual depth to the garden as their foliage seems to sit raised on pillars.This artifice is used when there is not staging. We find such an example in Het Loo (NL), wherea beech alley separates the garden near the Royal Palace from the garden further away.

Finally, in order to enhance the perspective effect, William transplanted the orange treesalongside the main axis, whereas previously they stood to attention in front of the orangeries (4).

The lower garden is characterized by different features: - instead of flower borders, you’ll see water borders - the succession of a lower area (the parterre 1), a higher area (the quincunx 2) and another lowerarea (in front of the orangeries 4) gives rise to two open zones that contrast with the enclosed

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The Gardens of the Castle at Freÿr / Meuse

nature of the linden trees- the part near the castle has a design more complex than the one in front of the orangeries. Thisenhances the principle of simplification as one moves away from the castle.

Now follow the main axis to the round pond. Note how old linden trees (2) regenerate fromshoots sprouting either at the center of the old tree or from a series of shoots starting at the edgeof the old tree and converging towards its center.

THE RENAISSANCE POND (3)

Whilst looking towards the pavilion, hide the dome from view with one hand and you willdiscover the French classicism of the Louis XVI style. Then do the opposite by hiding thebuilding, and you will discover the Viennese rococo style. This reflects the influences of thetime: geographical from France, political from Austria.

The cascade flows into two scallop shells above Neptune who is surrounded by dolphins. A swan about to take off crowns the whole. This work by Maria Bruno-Kaminska and sponsoredby Daimler AG replaces the original one stolen in 1960.

Turning towards the Meuse you will discover the "ha-ha" and the view to untamed nature. In the17th century, the English had introduced this type of opening in their French gardens as areaction against the excessive domestication of nature in Cartesian gardens. The unexpecteddiscovery of this view made people gasp in surprise. Hence the “ha-ha” moniker.

Keep following the central axis.

THE ORANGE TREES ( 4 )

The oldest trees are nearly 350 years old.

Their presence saved Freÿr during the Terror (1794), when Delecolle, a disciple of Robespierreand Mayor of Givet, decided not to destroy the buildings as long as he had not moved the trees tohis own garden. Meanwhile, following the Fall of Robespierre, Delecolle was arrested in Freÿrand later guillotined in Givet. The buildings were not burned and trees, already on barges, wereput back in the Freÿr garden.

Several trees have shown incredible resilience. For example (see plan below)

B-04: All branches gradually perished starting with the highest. The curator of the Medici's citruscollection advised us to let the shoots grow so that if the old trunk had died, we would havesaplings with 350-year old roots!

M-10: During the German invasion in 1940, as the whole population had fled, the trees stillwintering in the orangeries were not watered. This tree survived the drought, but its life becameconfined to its bark. It split in two, each part having its own reticular system. Therefore, itrequires twice more water than a normal tree.

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The Gardens of the Castle at Freÿr / Meuse

M-15 : This laurel with a hollow trunk lives only by its bark.

In the orangeries, you find a stand describing the buildings (5) and the treatment of orange trees(6).

Climb the staircase (6), you’ll discover a beautiful view of the nearby valley and two vantagepoints overlooking the valley on the other side of the river. They are situated along the Dinant-Beauraing road between Anseremme and Falmignoul. They are worth the detour.

THE UPPER INTIMATE GARDEN ( 7 to 9 )

After the death of William, his younger brother, Philip enlarged the gardens in the Rococo styleof his time. His gardens were laid out on the slopes of the Meuse. They consist of eight smallintimate labyrinths, whose 6 km-long hedges represent geometric shapes and among them thecolors of a pack of cards. Nowadays, the intimate nature of the labyrinths is less pronounced because the hedges were cutshort on the inside of the labyrinths to reduce the cost of maintenance.

These labyrinths dating from the time of Marivaux allowed flirtatious bantering games: If thebelle did not like to be courted, she remained in the diagonal paths or in the central lightchamber, where she was seen; otherwise she went astray in the side paths!

In the labyrinths (8), you notice that the different paths are all aligned and closed on a target: agate, a window, a fountain or a statue, a typical feature of the Rococo gardens. Their intimatecharacter is opposed to the demonstrative character of the Baroque gardens of the 17th century,where the axes should give the illusion of infinite distance, reflecting the dominating character ofLouis XIV.

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The Gardens of the Castle at Freÿr / Meuse

Note that the ascending alley is bordered with linden trees pruned in the shape of candelabra anddivided in two by a small hedge. It allowed the ladies who walked in the wide part to raise theircrinoline while the gentlemen, who took the narrowest part, could not look at the feet of theladies: true puritanism. But you could flirt in the labyrinths : pure hypocrisy !

Reaching the railway line Dinant-Givet (9), you discover a legacy of the 19th centuryindustrialization. And yet this is a lesser evil compared to the original plan to let the train ride inthe middle of the mazes along the second horizontal axis (7-8-12-13). It would have avoided todig a trench for the railroad but it would have cost the disappearance of the upper garden. Thisdisaster was averted thanks to the intervention of Leopold I. More on this in (11).

THE LE NÔTRE PERSPECTIVE ( 10 )

Look at the view towards the Meuse. In the middle of the intimate gardens Philip createdsomething special : along the vertical axis (the short row of terraces perpendicular to the Meuse)he designed at the end of 18th century a garden that was worthy of Le Nôtre, Louis XIV’slandscaper who died in 1700. It stretches 150 meters. Philip made use of the slope to make your eye leap over the river and take the whole valley intoview, thus highlighting the tetralogy of Freÿr: a wild natural site bordered by cliffs, with a riverin the middle and a historic dwelling set among terraced gardens.

The Le Nôtre look is created by the addition of the large central pond and hornbeam hedges thatare further apart than the linden hedges.

This results in the following geometric observations: - the triangle surrounding the two ponds leads your eye to the near bank of the Meuse,- the straight lines at a tangent to the hornbeam and linden hedges move your eye on to the far bank where the straight lines meet,- but here, your eyes are inevitably drawn to the light, and so to the crest of the valley, fromwhich you are separated by more than 500 meters.

So this natural setting, a precursor of the romantic landscape gardens of the 19th century, givesthe full scale to the open axis, an anachronism of the 17th century in a garden of the ending 18thcentury: a feature unique to Freyr.

Here also, the garden becomes more simplified as you move away from the Meuse : gravel andstaircase in the lower part contrasting to the lawn and slope in the upper part.

You can visit the pavilion and its 3 rooms (11) and then go down to the large pool (12), whichform together with the hedges a kind of Lilliputian chamber relative to the circus formed by thevalley.Should we find here the origin of the critical comments of Victor Hugo on Freÿr, or is it areflection of Hugo's contempt of all things classic and favor for all things romantic ?

You can follow the second horizontal axis (13), or wander in the mazes, where the kids love toplay hide and seek. Finally, you reach

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The Gardens of the Castle at Freÿr / Meuse

THE GREEN CUPOLA (14)

It is located in the center of a covered avenue, called the cradle because of its shape like an oldcot placed upside down. On the left you see the 17th century tower of the former farm’s dovecoteand on the right the massive structure of the 18th century barn.

Beyond the columns was the former 18th century kitchen garden: now it presents a balcony witha spectacular view of the rocks more than one hundred meters high with a sheer drop to theMeuse. The Wallonia Region and the King Baudouin Foundation intend to revive this part of thegardens.

Go down the cradle (15) passing by the old bell of 1739 (read the text on the bell) and the old jailin the tower (16), a witness that Freÿr was the seat of a high -and a low court of justice. Legendhas it that Freya, the goddess, was held here prisoner of the magician Maugis.

When crossing the main courtyard, be sure to visit the old laundry room (to the left of thetoilets). The items there include a large stone basin for rinsing the clothes, a water heatingcauldron, a clothes drying oven, various documents and photos on Freÿr. The enormous piece offurniture from the old kitchen floated during the floods (the height of the main floods : 1.70meters in 1890, 1.86 meters in 1925, 0.85 meters in 1993 and 1.50 meters in 1995).

CONCLUSION

We hope this overview will have helped you to discover the enchanting beauty of this location.We appreciate your visit because it encourages the family, which has lived here for more than 20generations, and the volunteers, to continue to devote themselves to maintain this exceptionalpart of our heritage.

Web sites www.freyr.be, www.friendsoffreyr.eu and www.facebook.com/chateau.defreyrcontain plenty of additional information.

Kindly return this text to the reception. THANK YOU and have a SAFE JOURNEY.

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