Jardins d'Annevoie

Charles-Alexis de Montpellier laid out the gardens at Annevoie from 1758, combining French formality, Italian water theatre and English landscape in one scheme, and their distinguishing feature is hydraulic: the water comes from four springs and a stream on higher ground and is distributed through a system of channels, basins and drops so that every cascade, jet and fountain in the garden runs continuously on gravity, with no pump anywhere and no mechanism to fail. Some of the channels are underground. The result is water moving constantly through the whole garden, in canals, a grand cascade, a buffet d'eau and dozens of jets, among clipped hedges, statuary, a rocaille grotto and mature trees, with the family house at the centre.

What you actually see

• Fountains running on gravity - the entire system without a single pump.
• The grand cascade - water stepping down through the formal garden.
• Three garden traditions combined - French, Italian and English in one scheme.
• The rocaille grotto - the eighteenth-century rockwork feature.

When to go

April to October; the garden closes for the winter. Two to three hours. Spring and early summer for the planting, autumn for colour. The house is not open, so the garden is the visit.

Honest expectations

The house is closed to visitors. The garden is smaller than the reputation suggests and two hours covers it. It closes entirely from November to March. Paths are gravel and get muddy. There is limited interpretation in English.

Nearby

Namur is north; Dinant lies south along the Meuse.