Louisa Jones hails a masterly design that more than matches this garden’s breathtaking panorama
LA JEG, a magical French garden, is a photographer’s dream in every sense and it’s been a lifetime in the making. Its owner, Tony Stone, was both a photographer and the founder of a major photo agency, travelling extensively in Provence. When he settled in the region at La Jeg some 20 years ago, he consulted his long-time colleague, internationally renowned garden designer Anthony Paul, whose work at the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden in Surrey he had much admired.
Both men have an eye for the striking unveiling of panoramas, as well as a love for well-placed garden sculpture, where mineral and plant forms set each other off.
Mr Stone preferred to avoid the fashionable Luberon and Alpilles areas in favour of a more dramatic site. His garden now faces Mont Ventoux, the highest summit in the region at more than 6,000ft. Its lower slopes unfold as a picturesque patchwork of orchards and vineyards.
His main requirements, besides the vista, were peace and quiet (no traffic noise), yet proximity to a village for security reasons. Mr Paul was as excited as his friend by this rustic farmhouse on top of a terraced hillside, with views almost full circle. Recently, Mr Stone has been able to buy the only remaining house on his perimeter, opening up his prospects to the full 360Ëš he’s always coveted.
The careful framing of views has meant laying out an itinerary to take them all in. Both owner and designer envisage La Jeg as a ‘stroll garden’, in which you move from discovery to discovery. Mr Stone likes to imagine couples meandering, ‘glass in hand’, and has provided carefully placed benches. Many linger around the pool, with its elegant deck and shady spaces designed for long, leisurely summer meals.
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