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| August 1, 2008 | to | August 3, 2008 |
The town of Grasse (06 Alpes-Maritimes, Provence) is famous for being the heart of the Provencal perfumery industry with evocative names such as Fragonard to entice you. Set up in the hills back from the Mediterranean coast, Grasse celebrates its 3-day Fete du Jasmin from 1-3 August 2008. The festival marks the beginning of the Jasmine harvest and features fireworks, dancing and a Jasmine parade.
Most visitors to Provence head for the spectacular Mediterranean coast and stylish seaside resorts, but you are missing much of the best of Provence if you don’t venture inland, where the scenery is stunning - and you can get great views of the sea.
The Côte d’Azur, the French Riviera: its sun, its beaches… and especially its backcountry, a true haven of well-being, brimming with authentic flavours and fragrances!!! Rising from the hills above the Mediterranean is the city of Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, surrounded by the charming Provencal landscape and villages of the Pays de Grasse, the regional name for this breathtaking and tranquil countryside. Together, they form the French Rivera’s most beautiful balcony.
For more info see www.ville-grasse.fr/jasminade
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| July 27, 2008 |
The town of Cognac (16 Charente, Poitou-Charentes) becomes an even more attractive place to visit in July 2008 with the Blues Passions Festival (22–27 July 2008).
With more than 120 concerts, 80 of which are free, the range of music on offer is vast - i.e from Status Quo to Joan Baez and most music styles in between which an emphasis on Afro-American music.
For more info on the festival see www.bluespassions.com
The big Cognac houses (Martell, Remy-Martin, Hennesy) all have well-organised trips around their distilleries and tastings of their brandies. However, these are inevitably a bit “touristy” – there are plenty of smaller, family-run estates which also welcome visitors and provide a rather more individualised welcome – e.g Maison Deau at Gemozac, which also has a Botanic Garden to visit!
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| July 15, 2008 |
Doué-la-Fontaine (49 Maine-et-Loire, Pays de la Loire), south of Angers, self-styles itself as “the Rose Garden of France!” and also claims to be the largest rose production area in the whole of Europe cultivating more than 7 million roses annually.! The town celebrates this with its Journées de la Rose (Rose Days) Festival from 11-15 July 2008.
Over 40,000 visitors attend this magnificent display of rose designs and rose sculptures held in the underground caves of the Roman Arena.
Enjoy the variety of aromas, harmony of colours and multitudes of intoxicating perfumes.
See our customised map of the area
For more info on the Journeees de la Rose see www.journeesdelarose.com/
Doué’s other main attraction is the Zoo de Doué (or Bio Park as they call themselves!) - but you are also close to the vineyards of Anjou - why not visit our friends at Domaine Leduc-Frouin - see our map for other ideas
| May 29, 2008 | ||
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| June 1, 2008 |
An opportunity to visit France’s rich heritage of Gardens is offered for the weekend of 29 May - 1 June 2008 with the “Rendezvous des Jardins” (meetings with gardens).
Sponsored by the French Ministry of Culture, more than 2000 private and public parks and gardens across France will be open to the public.
On the Culture Ministry’s website (only in French) there is a clickable map to select the region you are visiting - and details of the gardens open and what they are offering - open visits, guided tours, music, photographic exhibitions, lectures etc. Many are open until dusk on the Saturday.
The fun thing is that there is such a range available - for example in Picardie you can visit the Vegetable Garden (potager) of the Princes at Chantilly (60 Oise, Picardie), and also an artist’s private garden near Beauvais (60 Oise, Picardie) where painter Andre van Beck uses the plants as subjects of his paintings and where he will be showing some of his floral pictures alongside the garden which inspired them! (see le Jardin Du Peintre Andre Van Beek
- see our customised map of the Oise département.
Meanwhile in the Charente, you can visit the medieval Pilgrim Hospital Garden (Hopital des Pelerins) at Pons (17 Charentes-Maritimes, Poitou-Charentes) - a stop on one of routes to St Jean de Compostelle (Halte sur les chemins de St Jean). Whilst at St Andre de Lidon (17 Charentes-Maritimes, Poitou-Charentes) the Cognac and Pineau des Charentes producer J M Deau will be opening their Botanic Garden to the public - plus the opportunity to taste or buy some Cognac!
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| June 14, 2008 |
The Chateau of Chantilly (60 Oise, Picardie) hosts an International Firework Festival in the grounds 12-14 June 2008.
With at least 11 displays of pyrotechnic spectacles designed by some of the top firework display designers in the world - there are strict rules as in any serious competition - some elements against prescribed music, some silent, some freestyle - all against the backdrop of the historic Chateau, its lakes and formal gardens.
Doors open at 8.00pm and a full evening of entertainment is promised - it should be illuminating!
For more info see www.nuitsdefeu.com/ - there is a video showing the preparations and some idea of what to expect.
| June 6, 2008 | ||
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| June 8, 2008 |
We tend to think of the Rose as a quintessentially English flower, but the French have their moments. Avignon (84 Vaucluse, Provence) celebrates the rose with its Altera Rosa Festival in May, whilst in the north the Royal Abbey of Chaalis near Senlis (60 Oise, Picardie) throws its own Rose festival in June
Chaalis Abbey was a French Cistercian abbey founded in 1136 by Louis VI of Franc. There had previously been a Benedictine monastery in the same place.
The Journees de la Rose festival runs from 6-8 June in the delightful (and usually peaceful) gardens of the abbey - you’ll be greeted by a vast display of roses, be able to talk to rose experts, see an exhibition of photos and attend workshops on perfume and flower arranging.
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| September 26, 2008 | to | September 28, 2008 |
The Domaine of St Jean de Beauregard (91 Essonne, Ile de France) features a fine chateau and extensive grounds and gardens. They host several major gardening events each year. The kitchen garden (potager) is a key attraction as is the pigeonnier - the largest in the Paris region with 4,500 peches for pigeons!
11-13 April 2008 its the Festival of Perennial (or Hardy) Plants (plantes vivaces).
La Fête des Plantes et des Fruits et Légumes (Festival of Plants,Fruits and Vegetables) takes place 26-28 September 2008. 21-22 June 2008 the domaine hosts a craft festival (Fete des Artisans) with over 40 artists and craftsmen showing their creations in the grounds of the domaine.
For more info see www.domsaintjeanbeauregard.com
The Languedoc’s climate is note generally very conducive to the development of traditional gardens, but down near Pezenas (34 Herault, Languedoc-Roussillon) , Françoise et Daniel Malgouyres set about clearing an old quarry at Servian of its accumulated rubble, brambles and undergrowth to create a spectacular, award-winning garden on several levels with waterfalls and water features linking the elements together. The combination of the water and plenty of shade provides a cool, refreshing atmosphere which can be most welcome in the often intense heat of the Languedoc summer.
The Jardin de St Adrien is at Servian, just off the N113 between Beziers and Pezenas.
Servian is also the home of Domaine Sainte Rose, a very successful vineyard developed by an English couple, Charles and Ruth Simpson. Visits are by appointment – see www.domaine-sainte-rose.com – their wines being stocked in the UK by Leon Stolarski Fine Wines amongst others
June sees the conjunction of 2 events which combine the magic of French wine with the joy of summer gardens.
In LONDON, over 160 otherwise private gardens open their doors (or gates) for 2 days on 9th and 10th June 2007 oin the Loire Valley Wines Open Garden Squares weekend.
You will be able to discover many of London’s hidden treasures, ranging from stately set-pieces and formal landscapes through to some of London’s more eccentric and unusual open spaces. Along the way you can sample a range of Loire Valley Wines.
Amongst the many gardens you can even visit those at Holloway and Wandsworth Prisons (ominously the website adds “special conditions apply”!) There is also Islington’s Canonbury Square which was named as the 2006 Loire Valley Wines Legacy Garden. Here the east side of the square received a major makeover including the planting of a small vineyard and rose bed as its centrepiece - reflecting the planting of the vineyards in the Loire Valley.
Over in France from June 30 to September 2, Beaune, capital of Burgundy hosts its Water Garden Festival - an ideal way of enhancing a visit to a major wine centre, and interesting old town.
For its third edition, the festival Cours Water Gardens takes you along to discover the various districts of Beaune with many various and ludic animations: kitchen gardens of the residents, flowered meadows, transitory gardens designed by schools of landscape designers, visits of course deprived exceptionally open to the public, and a visit of “strange Beaune” through its various monuments and statues which marked out its History, without forgetting the spectacles of street for smallest and largest.
For more info see www.ot-beaune.fr
