A Medieval Garden

One of the most fascinating aspects of medieval castle life is what people ate and drank. Life was very different then to now and most people today have simply no idea what it took to source and prepare a daily meal. 

 The castle owners, of course, had plenty of servants to rely on but to help them have access to a wide variety of food, they often had a medieval garden within the castle grounds. 

Medieval gardens were usually a mixture of vegetables, herbs and flowers with the majority being used in cooking but some, particularly the herbs, being used for medicinal purposes. 

Here is a photograph of a medieval garden in France which we visited recently. It is set within the grounds of a medieval castle - a medieval donjon in fact. 

 

One of the 16 sections of the garden

Walking in the shade under a canopy of vines, the air was filled with the sweet aroma of medieval herbs such as rosemary, hissup, purslane and mace .... simply wonderful!