The hamlet is now greatly fallen into decay, nevertheless, it is worth a visit.
Retracing our steps we bear to the left and, having crossed, the first bridge, follow a pretty path which brings us into the flower garden of Le Nôtre, where we get a good view of the castle (photograph above). One can go straight back to the entrance gates by the staircase shown in the view. It is called the Grand Degré (great stair), and was built in 1682 by the architect Gitard. The groups which adorn the base of the Terrasse du Connétable, on each side of the stairs, were drawn by Le Nôtre and carved by Hardy.
This walk, from the time of leaving the museum until the return to the entrance gates, takes about three-quarters of an hour.
If one wishes to visit the English Garden and the Jeu de Paume, which will take about forty minutes longer, one must walk past the north front of the castle and follow the walk which opens in the middle of the thickets.
The English Garden was laid out in 1817 to 1819 by the architect Victor Dubois, according to the orders of the last of the Condés, just returned from exile. The site occupied by this garden, like the ground on which stands the town of Chantilly, belonged to the ancient park, devastated during the Revolution.
We pass near the Temple of Venus, which shelters a Venus Callipyge of the seventeenth century, near the Island of Love, dating from 1765 and on which are statues of Aphrodite and Eros. In the eighteenth century the Island of Love contained a luxurious pavilion, in which nocturnal fêtes were held, the canals and park being illuminated. The pavilion disappeared at the time of the Revolution.
THE HAMLET
The ancient Cascades of Beauvais that one sees before arriving at the Jen de Paume are remnants of the old park. They were the work of Le Nôtre.