In the mornings Andrew and I ate poached eggs and salt-crusted potatoes at an outdoor table facing the central allée of the formal gardens while the boys plumbed the mazelike box hedges, looking for frogs the size of pennies. On a lower tier of land, the jardin exotique-planted with roses, crocosmia, and delphiniums-is dominated by a scene-stealing circular swimming pool that’s rimmed by a thick lawn and blue-and-white-striped umbrellas.