La Borde en Sologne Château & Spa Chateau / A Destination

The vegetable garden at La Borde en Sologne – chateau & spa is located at the heart of the estate, lined by a row of hornbeams. It is planted with around 50 varieties of fruits and vegetables: potatoes, lettuce, beans, radishes, zucchini, leeks, strawberries, raspberries, herbs and apple, pear, cherry and plum trees... the list goes on. The gourmet inventory inspires the restaurant team. The cooks pass through the vegetable garden every morning so they can see, smell, understand and harvest.

It all started with an opportunity. Good timing. "My father's cousin wanted to part with the La Borde estate," says Anabelle Ubald-Bocquet. The Parisian spends all her weekends in Loir-et-Cher, a region she has frequented since her childhood. There is not one road, path, alley or horse trail that she does not know between Blois, Cheverny, Chambord and Romorantin. The same is true for her husband, Jean-Marie de Mourgues. "Arriving in Sologne each Friday night is like coming up for air," they say. So it was "an obvious choice" to acquire the Chateau de la Borde. First, to maintain "a family tradition going back to 1904", explains Anabelle Ubald-Bocquet, who has a soft spot for "all the things we pass down". With a destination settled, next came the commitment to work with local businesses and artisans.