I received a press release about a month ago about a garden and restaurant in the French countryside and I followed up with the publicist, asking her if I could visit. She was happy to arrange the visit and said that I could get a ride with the owner’s husband, who would be driving there from Paris on Friday morning.
I had not been out of Paris, except for when I went to France Miniature in the beginning of July, since the end of February, so I was beyond excited to leave the city and have an opportunity to visit the French countryside.
I went with my friend Rosemary Flannery, and we met Gilles in his car. Gilles was friendly and easygoing and told us the story of the property plus the history of the surrounding area. The property is in a small village, Gerberoy, located about 90 minutes from Paris in the Picardie region, near Beauvais.
Gilles' wife, Delphine Higgonet, recently inherited the house and garden, which her mother bought in 1969 for the family. The garden and the house is traced back to 1744, when the owner was the gouvenour or the “Vidame'' of the area. The garden was planted the century before with pruned yew trees, which are rare in France, and boxwood. Topiary gardens were the rage in France in the 1600s and 1700s for the royals and nobility, sprouting up all over France. Andre Le Notre incorporated topiaries in his garden design for Versailles in the 17th century. The garden still retains the original trees and they are trimmed annually. It’s the only historic garden in Gerberoy open to the public. The multi-tiered garden has won numerous awards and the grounds also contain a vegetable and herb garden.
We arrived at about 11am and Gilles parked in the public lot at the foot of the town. As we walked up the road, I was already enchanted by the abundance of flowers and plants adorning the lovely houses and cottages. Hydrangeas are one of my favorite flowers, especially since I moved to France because undoubtedly French hydrangeas are the most beautiful and vibrant, I’ve ever seen. Almost every house had hydrangea bushes overflowing and I was in hydrangea heaven.
A few moments later, we arrived at the courtyard of Du Jardin des Ifs, which had the barn, horse stable, and outer buildings, made of brick with thatched roofs. There were two immaculate topiaries and a row of outdoor tables with white umbrellas for the restaurant. I was already impressed.
Gilles gave us a tour of the house. The main floor had two rooms dedicated to the restaurant, and even though it was summer, it was a bit nippy that day, and there was a roaring fire going in the original fireplace. We were also shown the living quarters and I admired the finely carved woodwork all over.
We were finally at the piece de resistance, the garden, and what a sight it was. The grand topiary bushes all lined up and at the entrance were a pair of rounded hedges with dome shaped tops. Two others resembled enormous, wide-brimmed hats, surrounded by boxwood hedges. The main attraction is a cave constructed from the trees with a hole in the center, just big enough to walk through. Inside the cave, were two benches, and I could imagine holing up there on a blazing summer day enjoying the shade.
On the lower level of the garden was the vegetable and herb garden, and a lovely, round pond decorated with yellow flowers on the perimeter.
The landscape of the topiaries against the blue sky dotted with white clouds looking like cotton puffs was breathtaking. In a pleasant optical illusion, the clouds seemed to have risen from the ground, rather than hanging in the sky.
Even though it was a bit chilly, we decided to have lunch outside in the courtyard and took a table under one of the white umbrellas. We finally met Delphine, who was taking care of the restaurant that day and she told us that she opened the restaurant five years ago, hired a chef and built a commercial kitchen in one of the buildings in the courtyard. She also shared that the lettuce and herbs served in the restaurant was directly from the garden (talk about farm to table!) and that the vegetables were sourced locally, within just a few miles, as well as the meat.
For an appetizer we selected the house specialty, Feuillete de Rollot, puff pastry stuffed which was Louis XIV’s favorite cheese Rollot. The pastry was delicate and flaky, and the taste of the distinct cheese mixed with sautéed mushrooms was excellent. It was served with lettuce, fresh from the garden in a light dressing. Vincent has been doing all the cooking in the last four months, preparing mostly vegetarian, fish, and chicken dishes, so when I spotted duck on the menu, I ordered it immediately. Rosemary had a whole roasted sea bass and it looked fabulous on the plate. The rare cooked duck was tender and juicy, with a sweet sauce, which I could not detect the flavor of. Dessert was house made chocolate mousse served in a ginormous bowl with a big spoon. Gilles put on an apron and helped out at the restaurant, serving us a more than generous portion of the mousse. To contrast the mousse, we also had two scoops of locally produced sorbet. I so appreciated having lunch in this beautiful, serene setting and enjoying well prepared, French food with top notch ingredients. The restaurant also offers a tea and pastry menu in the afternoon.
After lunch we strolled through the rest of Gerberoy, and I will write about that on Thursday.
Du Jardin des Ifs
3, impasse du Vidamé, 60380 Gerberoy
Open from June 10 to September 30, from 11am-12pm, 2:30pm to 6pm, from Wednesday to Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday.
The restaurant has two lunch sittings, 12:30pm and 1:45pm
https://www.lejardindesifs.com/
Delphine and Gilles
I am happy to have the prolific author John Baxter as my guest on A Bite of Paris. John has written many books about Paris including The Most Beautiful Walk in World, We’ll Always Have Paris, and books about the neighborhoods of Paris. Montmartre, Saint Germain des Pres, and Montmartre. John has also written two books about food in France, The Perfect Meal and Eating Eternity.
John and I had coffee outdoors at the pastry shop and café, Gerard Mulot, in Saint Germain des Pres.
Please watch the video at this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpPCLR-6ACg
For more about John and to purchase his books go to https://www.johnbaxterparis.com/
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