The “potager” (vegetable garden) at Villandry Castle in the Loire Valley is a most impressive rendering of the idea of a vegetable garden. It is huge, colourful and a demonstration of horticultural art at its best, along with the science to make it work. The “parterre” areas are planted twice each season. Spaces are surrounded by box hedges, pathways are impeccably clean, colours are coordinated and many vegetables are rare or unusual. Apparently it takes “only” 7 full time gardeners to keep this place looking tip-top. The vegetable parterre represents less than a third of the total garden space – several other parterres and floral areas are also open to the public. Some say this type of gardening is boring – too much geometry and too many straight lines. Depends what you mean by “boring” …