Château de l'Hermitage

In the heart of a vast forest estate of three hundred and eighty hectares, the park of the Château de l'Hermitage, in the Nord, extends its great avenues through the forest from the château. At first intended mainly for hunting, it was designed by Emmanuel de Croÿ with the architects Chaussard and Contant d'Ivry, drawing on Berger and Chevotet, who worked at Belœil, and on his friend the Prince de Ligne. Twenty years of reflection went into finding his model: to turn the forest into a garden, fusing the château with its surroundings.

Work began in 1755: from the château's rotunda, a radiating plan reached into the forest past several garden areas, such as seasonal groves, a Chinese pavilion and a cascade (plan published by Le Rouge in 1779). Today, after major works, visitors can still see the great avenues and several features of the old Anglo-Chinese park through its many follies: the grotto, the 'wild island', the ice house and the unfinished tower. The visit is an extraordinary introduction to late 18th-century garden art, in the heart of the Bonsecours state forest (Scarpe-Escaut Regional Nature Park).

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