The gardens of the cottage
On the other side of the road that runs along the park of the castle of Montlaur, the gardens of the cottage have a country air. Former vegetable gardens of this "ramonétage ", a long building once inhabited by the "ramonés" (the people who took care of the horses on the estate), they now consist of various walled spaces. It is accessed by a Muscat alley that leads to a wide lawn framed by cypresses where fruit trees, a vegetable garden of aromatic herbs, another of tomatoes surround a swimming pool.
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Higher up, a few stone steps are crossed, perennials and roses run along the wall of the Maison du Village where a Muscat of Hamburg trellis stretches.. A hundred-year-old almond tree, oleanders and lavenders frame the summer dining room of the house. Separated by a small wall of laurels, the small gardens continue grassed up to a gravelly courtyard where opuntia aciculata (prickly pears) gild themselves in the sun in the company of invading fig trees.
The gardens of the cottage won the first prize of the Aude gardens .