Chateau of La Source, France

The Chateau of La Source in the Loire Valley was a former home of Henry St.John 1st Viscount Bolingbroke and his second wife, Marie Claire de Marcilly. Bolingbroke leased the property between 1710 and 1723 and the couple took up residence there shortly after their marriage in 1720. They spent three happy years at La Source before Bolingbroke received a Pardon allowing him to return to England.

Bolingbroke took a keen interest in the chateau and gardens making many alterations and improvements on which he is said to have spent 10,000 francs.

Here he wrote and studied, met and charmed Voltaire, and developed his ideas on landscape gardening, sharing his thoughts with his friend Alexander Pope.

Today the chateau is used as the administrative headquarters of the University of Orleans and the extensive gardens are open to the public.

See Items of Interest: Bolingbroke's Chateau of La Source by Kenneth Woodbridge