My last post covering our European backpacking trip featured Versaille - a palace that took opulence to new heights. The palace itself had beautiful details, which you can see in my post, Gorgeous Versailles, a look at the beautiful details , but I actually enjoyed Hameau de la Reine, The Queen's Hamlet, a lot more.
A quick synopsis of the Queen's rustic retreat -
"It served as a private meeting place for the Queen and her closest friends, a place of leisure. Designed by the Queen's favoured architect, Richard Mique and with the help of the painter Hubert Robert, it contained a meadowland with lakes and streams, a classical Temple of Love on an island with fragrant shrubs and flowers, an octagonal belvedere, with a neighbouring grotto and cascade. There are also various buildings in a rustic or vernacular style, inspired by Norman or Flemish design, situated around an irregular pond fed by a stream that turned the mill wheel.[1] The building scheme included a farmhouse, (the farm was to produce milk and eggs for the queen), a dairy, a dovecote, a boudoir, a barn that was burned down during the French Revolution, a mill and a tower in the form of a lighthouse. Each building is decorated with a garden, an orchard or a flower garden. The largest and most famous of these houses is the "Queen's House" that is connected to the Billiard house by a wooden gallery, at the center of the village. A working farm was close to the idyllic, fantasy-like setting of the Queen’s Hamlet." - via Wikipedia
The mill
A cottage garden
The mill and pond
Dovecote and Guard House.
Marlborough Tower.
As cool as it was to see this little hamlet, there was something a bit "off" about it being as it sort of acted as a was for Marie to "play peasant." What do you guys think?
Here's that list again of all my posts from our travels that I've posted -
Spain
•Introduction to my European backpacking trip and a list of places we visited
• Galicia - Baiona and Isle de Cies
• Galicia - the coast, some charming vineyards, and Pontevedra
• Santiago de Compostela and gorgeous hidden beaches
• Gorgeous mountain lakes of Picos de Europa
• Stunning mountains - Picos de Europa
• Bilbao and San Sebastian
• Beautiful Barcelona
• The amazing Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona
• Art Nouveau dream house by Gaudi in Barcelona
Italy
• Not to miss - the gorgeous rocky coast of Italy's Cinque Terre
• More from my summer traveling Europe - amazing Rome
• From my summer in Europe - amazing Pompeii
• Turquoise ocean and vineyards on cliffs - the amazingly stunning Amalfi coast
• My Summer in Europe: Pictures from lovely Florence, Italy
• Enchanting Siena
•Venice
•Lake Como, Italy
Switzerland
•Jungfrau region, Switzerland, Part 1
•Jungfrau region, Switzerland, Part 2
Germany
• One of my favorite cities from my European backpacking trips - Ulm, Germany
• Lake Constance
• Cute HOUSE Overload - the charming medieval homes of Germany's Romantic Road
• Regensburg, Germany, and Salzburg, Austria
Austria
• Salzburg
• A charming lakeside village, Hallstatt
• Beautiful Vienna
• Kunst Haus Wien in Vienna
Hungary
• Budapest Part 1
• Budapest Part 2
Czech Republic
• Stunning Prague
Germany
• Berlin
Holland
• Amsterdam
Belgium
• Brussels
• Charming Bruges
France
• Paris Part 1
• Paris Part 2
• Beautiful Versaille
via decorology