Julien de Cerval, a magistrate from Sarlat, inherited the unremarkable Château de Marqueyssac in 1861, and he proceeded to transform its grounds into one of the most splendid gardens in France. Paths meander through some 150,000 century-old boxwoods, a surreal topiary landscape the likes of which I’ve never seen. From certain viewpoints, you can overlook acres of Seussian tufts, beyond which spreads one of the most spectacular sections of the Dordogne region.