The palace was a very busy place so Louis XIV had mini palaces built in the gardens - the Trianons - to escape from the formalities and pressures of the court.
Marie-Antoinette loved spending time at the Trianon, away from the crowds.
She added a theatre, where she would perform from friends and family, and which now gives precious insights into the workings of a 17th century theatre.
She also built a model hamlet of 10 small farm buildings around an artificial lake, including a farm, a dairy and a fisherman's cottage.
She would dress up as a shepherdess or a milkmaid, milking the cows and picking eggs.
While this was fashionable in aristocratic circles at the time, the public became irate that she could pretend to be poor, and felt she was completely out of touch with reality.
This hatred helped fuel the French Revolution.