In France looking for some entertainment this weekend? We might have just the thing for you, regardless of where you are in France…
Each year several hundreds of gardens across France open their doors to the public for a few days, lots of them private gardens that can’t be visited at other times of the year. This year the dates are 3rd June – 5th June. (This weekend!)
Lots of them are very attrcative and will offer all kinds of inspiration to gardeners, and even give us non-gardening types a bit of fresh air and a chance to get out and about.
Your only challenge is to find one near you. Not because there isn’t one, there probably is, but because they have carefully produced a website to celebrate the occasion that makes it more or less impossible to actually track down gardens in your region.
Thick I’m kidding? Go take a look at their website rendezvous aux jardins – instead of a nice friendly map to guide you, a few minutes of hard effort will eventually bring you to a search box full of options you don’t understand (can’t find it? try here and ignore all options except ‘department’ and you might have some success).
Stick with it and I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time. But meanwhile I have a confession to make…
We went to a garden (Le Jardin de Mireille) at a little village called Auriac-sur-Dropt this afternoon, and very pretty it was too, with attractive walkways and various arty objects etc for Mrs B to oooh and aaah about. But we couldn’t find anyone else at all – we rang the bell, called out, but no sign of life. So we missed the chance to pay (I think most gardens charge 3-4 euros admission) and Mrs B missed the chance to talk about gardens with a fellow garden enthusiast.
She did make a couple of comments to me, about delphiniums I think it was, in the hope of striking up an interesting garden conversation, but frankly I’m not up to the challenge of giving sensible answers to garden comments and she soon gave up trying.
Anyway, if anyone reading this lives anywhere nearby (see Auriac-sur-Dropt on a map) be sure to drop in over the weekend, look around the garden, (10-12, 2-7 if I read the brochure correctly), and tell them that we were suitably impressed, and next time we are in the village we will pop in and pay our dues!
Then pop in to the church in nearby Allemans-du-Dropt to see some of the best medieval frescoes I’ve seen in France, including an early portrait of myself and Mrs B sailing along the river (or perhaps we’ve just been baptised?).
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