Our mid-June French château-visiting plan was foiled when we missed the last house tour at Château d’Ambleville (not that I minded, with that wonderful garden to explore). But like I said, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a castle in France. So we drove 15 minutes south to La Roche-Guyon to see its grand château (built in the 1200s) and medieval fortress (dating from the 1100s) dug into a chalk hillside overlooking the Seine.

I took one look at the towering fortress — which my husband was eagerly eyeing — and envisioned the twisting, narrow stair that led up there and then glanced across the road where a walled garden was visible. “Uh, honey, I’ll be over there. Take your time and have fun!”

The historic potager at Château de La Roche-Guyon, planted in the early 1700s, was restored in 2004, and it’s free and open to the public until the gates are locked around 4 or 5 pm. It was late in the afternoon when we arrived, and only a few other visitors were exploring the garden just before closing.

The day was warm, and the light was slanting low through the leaves of apple and pear trees.

It was just me and the bees.

Behind the trees, a meadow mix of tawny grasses, thistles, and daisies softened the garden’s formality with shaggy, semi-wild texture. The charming old buildings of the village were visible beyond the garden wall, and the hillside rose up behind them.

It was picturesque. And flat. My tired feet were thanking me for not climbing the stone tower.

Sturdy, carefully pruned apple trees held up branches of ripening fruit…

…in green bouquets.

Spiny thistles…

…and daisies filled in below.

Wide gravel paths led on the diagonal into the garden, which buzzed sleepily.

A bent and twisted steel beam rising from a silver nest of wire fencing makes a modern focal point at the rear of the garden.

Soon I reached a low wall overlooking the Seine — a rural view so different from the river’s passage through Paris. I sat here for a while and watched a barge go by.

My phone buzzed, and I saw a message from my husband and daughter: “We’re at the top.” I turned to look at the castle and saw two tiny figures waving at me from the top of the tower.

Here’s the view they had: I’m at the semicircular wall by the river. From above you can fully appreciate the decorative nature of the garden’s layout, which the château’s inhabitants would have enjoyed from their stony perch, while their kitchen staff made use of its utility in producing food for the table. I wonder what the owners do with all the apples and pears the orchard produces today?

The town of La Roche-Guyon itself is charming, and I wished we’d arrived earlier in order to visit its shops and restaurants, which were closed by the time we’d finished our respective tours. We drove through town and up its winding lanes, pointing in amazement at cave-houses and cave-garages carved out of the chalk hillside. Leaving town on a road that parallels the Seine, we admired well-kept cottages and gardens.

This was our last day in France. The next day we boarded a train for England and glided through the Chunnel (the longest undersea tunnel in the world, running under the English Channel), arriving in London for a two-night stay.

Coming up next: A stroll through London’s lovely Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, plus the Tower of London. For a look back at the Italian Renaissance garden at Château d’Ambleville, click here.

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