Do you have your very own park?

[mint]

I'm always intrigued when a French estate agent describes a largish garden as a "parc".

I have 3000 sq metres but I wouldn't dream of calling my bit of "prime " (I wish) French land a park.

So, when is a jardin a parc?  What are the minimum dimensions of a garden for it to be described as a park?

And, if your garden is a park, do you need to have some trees and the odd garden bench for it to qualify to be so described?

Over to you..............

 

[Clair]

parc = au naturel, or close to, species-wise, basic maintenance.

jardin = maintained, cultivated

[mint]

Thank you, Clair, for that explanation.  Now, I can safely say that I have a parc.  It's au naturel and, in fact, is more a field except that I've seen much better maintained fields!

[Gardengirl]

That's really interesting. Our apartments have some land attached, so we all own it jointly; ownership based on size of apartment, as does the share of the gardening bill. We referred to it as a garden at first, although we'd noted it was referred to as a parc in official documents. People expressed surprise at us calling it a garden, so we changed to calling it a parc along with the French, Belgians, Dutch. It has felt as though we were boasting in a way, making it sound very grand; but with Clair's explanation I feel more comfortable.  It's not a huge parc, but has some very old trees, quite a number of shrubs and other trees and the rest is grass, which the gardeners rush round cutting fairly quickly (at huge cost!). So although it's kept fairly tidy, it's au naturel, without flower borders etc, so maybe comess under the au naturel banner. So thanks once again, Clair, for that explanation, and also Sweet for asking the question.

[Cendrillon]

Yes, we have one as well and the "parc" word always intrigued me.

[dragonrouge]

we had a parc in Normandie some 6000 sq meters of it. Also we were visited by red squirrels hares deer and like. There was lots of local varieties of trees and the house was called Les Hortensias for huge examples lined the long drive way and due to acid soil the flowers were of course blue. It was a sight to behold and looking at the photographs of the house the other night we questioned why we left?

One of the reasons was grass cutting during the summer. However I became good at driving with one hand and a cold beer in the other.

We have now as well decided to move from the Vendee and this is nothing new for us for in my career I moved eighteen times!

[ukhostland]

Hi,

Yes, I know, its a grand term for a garden; ours is smaller than yours but everyone in the town calls it a park.

It is defined as an enclosed area with trees, attached to a chateau or a substantial property.

Our house is a fairly substantial "maison de maitre" and when we arrived was overgrown with ugly trees and shrubs. When these were removed we were left with grass and two huge, 150 year old, Sequoias: a park.

As garden designers and keen gardeners ourselves, the garden is gradually being planted with a mixture of plants bought at plant fairs in France, and the odd truck-load of things from our suppliers in the UK.

I unerstand this will not make it any less park-like.

By the way, Ihave a blog that may be of interest: http://gardendesigncompany.wordpress.com/

[Théière]

[quote user="Clair"]parc = au naturel, or close to, species-wise, basic maintenance.
jardin = maintained, cultivated
[/quote]

I have always decribed ours as a garden, (Medow garden)

If I use the "parc au naturel" I get worried that some guest may book as they think it is a naturist holiday [:-))][:D]

[mint]

[quote user="Théière"]

If I use the "parc au naturel" I get worried that some guest may book as they think it is a naturist holiday [:-))][:D]

[/quote]

Well, let them strip, I say!  Would be such a hoot for the neighbours, don't you think?