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The Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire

With its heritage, artistic and gardening approach, the Arts and Nature Center of Chaumont-sur-Loire is a unique place offering a great experience to visitors in search of discovery and disconnection. Located in the heart of landscapes listed as World Heritage by UNESCO, this historic place of the Loire Valley is today an open-air laboratory bringing together nature and culture through multiple animations.
 

An artistic place yesterday and today

Consisting of a Castle (with stables and outbuildings) and a 32-hectare park, the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire served as the home of Marie de Médicis, Diane de Poitiers and Madame de Staël, 3 women whose contribution to the arts is continued today through a number of activities based on contemporary creation and nature. Each year in spring, the Art season and the International Garden Festival are held, and in autumn and winter, photography is honored with the Chaumont-Photo-sur-Loire exhibitions.

Installations, artistic interventions, conferences, meetings... This cultural center, located in a magnificent environment, attracts some 500,000 visitors a year with a multidisciplinary and multi-sensory program that has been exploring the links between the greatest of creators - nature - and art since 2008.

An unmissable event

Open 363 days a year, the site is constantly changing thanks to the International Garden Festival, which each year invites landscape architects and designers from around the world to submit projects combining creativity, poetry, and nature. At the end of the competition, experimental gardens are created which, together with the “Green Cards” offered to guests, completely transform the visitor experience at the estate.
In 2024, the theme of this laboratory of contemporary garden design was “Garden, Source of Life,” attracting a diverse audience: French and foreign visitors, experts and amateurs of all ages gathered at this site, which offers many other attractions. In 2025, the theme “Once Upon a Time in the Garden” guided the designers' work. Their creations had to take into account ecological constraints and enhance the presence of plants in their plots (2 guidelines for all editions of the Festival) while immersing visitors in the magical atmosphere of fairy tales

With 3 stars in the Michelin Green Guide to the Loire Valley Castles, 6 restaurants and several labels (including the "Remarkable Trees" label for its cedars in the Historical Park), there are plenty of reasons to come to the Domaine! Our recommendation: use the "Loire by Bike" route (labeled "Quality Tourism") to gently appreciate the beauties of this region and this site of which it is one of the jewels.
To find out more and organize this tour combining heritage, art, and nature, visit the website of this must-see monument in the Loire Valley.


 Valérie from Comme des Français.
 
 
 
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Photo credits: 1. Le jardin de la fontaine Anémone de Jean-Philippe Poiree-ville_©Eric Sander / 2. L'arbre source_©C. Diaz / 3. Mosaïque mimétique_©Eric Sander / 4. Le jardin zèbre_©C. Diaz