Discover the Arenenberger Garden World
The landscape of the Lake Constance is characterised by orchards, vegetable gardens, orchard meadows and vineyards. The Arenenberg also has a lot to offer to garden lovers from all over the world. Here one can look back on a gardening tradition of over 600 years. In the Middle Ages, Thurgau and Constance patricians developed the estate into a representative country estate and laid out a pleasure garden. In 1816, Hortense de Beauharnais, former “First Lady” of France, acquired the estate with its castle, gardens and farm. A magnificent landscape park was then created with numerous fixtures such as grottos, a hermitage, an ice cellar and a fountain.
The historical gardens
When Hortense de Beauharnais, former “First Lady” of France, first came to the Arenenberg in 1816, she fell blindly in love with the grounds with their romantic views of Untersee. She decided to purchase the estate with its castle, gardens and farm. She certainly had no idea that the extensive park had its roots in the Middle Ages, which were already far away for her. Unfortunately, we still know too little about the ideas and connections of the owners of that time. But the existing traces clearly point to Italy and Renaissance France. In any case, Hortense laid the foundation for a magnificent park with numerous fixtures such as grottos, a hermitage, an ice cellar and a fountain. Subsequently, her son Louis Napoléon took over the planning, and Prince Pückler, a friend of his, was also involved. The landscape park, which was later buried, was only rediscovered in the 2000s in the course of extensive archaeological investigations and on the basis of the old plans. Thanks to the Napoleon III Foundation and with the support of sponsors, it was reconstructed in 2007/08.
The school gardens
Farmers have been trained at the Arenenberg for more than 100 years. The school is run by the cantonal education and advisory centre. Its instructors pass on their knowledge of everything from arable farming to fruit care, viticulture to cultivating vegetables to young farmers and course participants. Today, the school’s teaching gardens are also open to visitors, who can use the perennial and summer flower beds as inspiration for designing their own gardens and learn interesting facts about fruit rotation, beekeeping and chicken keeping.
