The gardens at Chenonceau: two parterres, a labyrinth and a potager

The short version: two formal gardens face each other across the entrance drive — Diane de Poitiers’ parterre at 12,000 m² in eight triangles of lawn, and Catherine de Médicis’ garden at 5,500 m² round a circular basin. Beyond them: a Green Garden laid out in 1825, a Russell Page garden opened in summer 2018, a labyrinth of 2,000 yew trees over a hectare, a flower kitchen garden of twelve square beds, and an Apothecary’s Square of 45 medicinal and aromatic plants.

Diane’s parterre12,000 m²

Catherine’s garden5,500 m²

Labyrinth2,000 yews, over a hectare

Kitchen gardenTwelve square beds

Apothecary’s Square45 plants

Green GardenLaid out 1825

The two that matter, and the rivalry in them

Diane’s parterre is the larger, at 12,000 m², laid out in eight triangles of lawn. Catherine’s is 5,500 m² and turns on a circular basin. They are the same argument as the bridge and the gallery, in box and gravel: the king’s favourite built first and bigger, the widow built afterwards and separately rather than over the top. Both women get their own page — Diane, Catherine — and the whole sequence is on the Ladies.

How much garden the one ticket covers

Diane’s parterre is 12,000 m² in eight triangles of lawn and Catherine’s is 5,500, both from the operator’s leaflet. Then the Green Garden of 1825, the Russell Page garden opened in 2018, a labyrinth of two thousand yews over more than a hectare, a flower kitchen garden of twelve square beds with over four hundred roses in it, and the Apothecary’s Square of forty-five medicinal and aromatic plants. All of it is inside the same admission as the house, which is why an hour here is not enough.

A formal parterre of clipped box with standard roses and gravel walks — Diane’s parterre runs to 12,000 m² and Catherine’s to 5,500. Both are inside the same admission as the house.

Everything else outside

Garden	What it is
Parterre of Diane de Poitiers	12,000 m², eight triangles of lawn
Garden of Catherine de Médicis	5,500 m², with a circular basin
The Green Garden	Laid out in 1825
The Russell Page garden	Opened in the summer of 2018
The labyrinth	2,000 yew trees, over one hectare
The flower kitchen garden	Over one hectare, twelve square beds, a hundred varieties of flowers, over 400 roses
The Apothecary’s Square	45 medicinal and aromatic plants

The kitchen garden is a working one: the leaflet counts “a hundred varieties of flowers” and “over 400 roses” across twelve square beds, and the flowers cut there are the ones arranged in the house. The Apothecary’s Square, at 45 plants, is small and easy to walk past. It sits by the Dômes building — the old apothecary and wine cellar — along with the 16th-century farm and the Carriage Gallery.

Insider tip

The Dômes Gallery and the Carriage Gallery are named in the platform ticket’s own inclusions, which is how this site knows the platform is selling the same admission the door sells. See tickets.

How long the outside takes

Longer than people budget for, which is half the reason the two reviewer estimates on how long you need are three hours apart. The gardens are also the part of the visit the weather decides: one reviewer on a minivan day trip lost them entirely to heavy rain and still rated the day well.

Book the admission

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure on most tours — book now, decide later.

Frequently asked questions

How big are the gardens at Chenonceau?

Diane de Poitiers’ parterre is 12,000 m² in eight triangles of lawn and Catherine de Médicis’ garden is 5,500 m² round a circular basin, per the operator’s guide leaflet. The labyrinth and the kitchen garden are each over a hectare.

How many yew trees are in the labyrinth?

2,000, over more than one hectare, according to the operator’s leaflet.

Are the gardens included in the ticket?

Yes. The admission covers the château, the gardens and the Dômes and Carriage galleries — those are the platform ticket’s own three lines, and they match the door.