A garden for all ages
Last Sunday (13th) after the obligatory car boot, we drove to a garden I’d long wanted to visit. Les jardins de Brocéliande are situated just south of Rennes and only about 40 minutes drive from us but somehow we hadn’t ventured there before. We arrived around 2.30pm just in time to see all the French families finishing their picnics around the entrance to the gardens. Sounds odd maybe, but the area between the car park and the gardens is lovely with trees, picnic tables, boules pitch, a cafeteria, a rentablehall and a loo block. We decided to start our visit with a coffee and were surprised to see how little was on offer in the way of food and snacks – obviously the French visitors knew this and brought their own lunch but I did feel they weren’t making the most of a good commercial location – quelle surprise!
We paid (€6) each and found a really charming garden inside, of course by September a lot of the herbacious beds are looking a little sad but the Dahlia maze was a riot of colour. There is a little train which takes you all around the garden (although not quite all 24 hectares of it) - and not really a train but a tractor pulling pulling some wagons but it’s free and fun and a good way of orientating yourself in the garden. There are some animals – a pig, horse, goats and donkey but the most original children’s attractions were a fantastic rope climb with crows nests at various heights, a mad saucer swing and a man made stream with various way of propelling the water manually. All good fun and educational too.
New this year is a path meandering through the garden made up of lots of different materials which you are supposed to walk along in bare feet – we got to the pebbles and thought better of it but loads of people were braving the entire route. At one point the path was made of mud which got deeper towards the end and it was very amusing to see peoples’ faces as they suddenly realised they were ankle deep in the stuff. That path ended by going through a shallow river so plenty of opportunity to wash those tootsies. Although we didn’t participate ourselves, we could see how much others enjoyed it and how much thought went into creating it. There were sections of sand, coir, pebbles, pine cones, embedded glass bricks, astro turf, concrete with wild animal & bird prints, rubber shavings, mud, water, shingle, and loads more I’ve now forgotten.
We spent a lovely 3 hours wondering around the various areas of the garden and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The garden has shows spotlighting different plants at different times of the year but it seems there’s something to see from when it opens on 1st May to its closure on the 31st October.
Before we left, we visited their nursery and as before in the cafeteria, were disappointed at the lack of plants for sale. They also had various varieties of chickens for sale and quite a lot of information about each breed. One last stop for a final coffee and a chat witha very nice ‘young man’ revealed that the gardens are run as a training scheme for handicapped people and to sell their crafts. People with all sorts of disabilities are given the opportunity of learning about business in the garden shop and café, gardening, animal husbandry and catering. The scheme, he explained, hadn’t been running for long and as withall businesses in France is beset by problems with red-tape and beurocracy but it is getting there. He apologised for the lack of food and said that it was due to a shortage of volunteers to help the disabled catering trainees, however he also said that his job satisfaction at the garden was 100% improved compared to his 5 years in British catering. For more details about the gardens visit their Webseite.
On the way home we stopped at La gacilly, another beautiful location, with flower displays to die for, it’s also home to Yves Rocher – France’s answer to Bodyshop and as well as all things ecological, they sponsor a photographic exhibition every year with exhibits hung all over the buildings throughout the town. There is usually a theme (open to interpretation) and the quality of the photos is breathtaking. As well as that, the town is also home to cobbled streets filled with beautiful old traditional house and wall to wall artisans plying their crafts. A charming village and always a pleasure to visit. As we’re on the borders of Loire Atlantique, and Brittany there’s something to do and see in every direction. Come and have fun in this lovely place by booking your holiday in one of our ‘home away from home’ gites soon.
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A garden for all ages
A garden for all ages
Last Sunday (13th) after the obligatory car boot, we drove to a garden I’d long wanted to visit. Les jardins de Brocéliande are situated just south of Rennes and only about 40 minutes drive from us but somehow we hadn’t ventured there before. We arrived around 2.30pm just in time to see all the French families finishing their picnics around the entrance to the gardens. Sounds odd maybe, but the area between the car park and the gardens is lovely with trees, picnic tables, boules pitch, a cafeteria, a rentablehall and a loo block. We decided to start our visit with a coffee and were surprised to see how little was on offer in the way of food and snacks – obviously the French visitors knew this and brought their own lunch but I did feel they weren’t making the most of a good commercial location – quelle surprise!
We paid (€6) each and found a really charming garden inside, of course by September a lot of the herbacious beds are looking a little sad but the Dahlia maze was a riot of colour. There is a little train which takes you all around the garden (although not quite all 24 hectares of it) - and not really a train but a tractor pulling pulling some wagons but it’s free and fun and a good way of orientating yourself in the garden. There are some animals – a pig, horse, goats and donkey but the most original children’s attractions were a fantastic rope climb with crows nests at various heights, a mad saucer swing and a man made stream with various way of propelling the water manually. All good fun and educational too.
New this year is a path meandering through the garden made up of lots of different materials which you are supposed to walk along in bare feet – we got to the pebbles and thought better of it but loads of people were braving the entire route. At one point the path was made of mud which got deeper towards the end and it was very amusing to see peoples’ faces as they suddenly realised they were ankle deep in the stuff. That path ended by going through a shallow river so plenty of opportunity to wash those tootsies. Although we didn’t participate ourselves, we could see how much others enjoyed it and how much thought went into creating it. There were sections of sand, coir, pebbles, pine cones, embedded glass bricks, astro turf, concrete with wild animal & bird prints, rubber shavings, mud, water, shingle, and loads more I’ve now forgotten.
We spent a lovely 3 hours wondering around the various areas of the garden and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The garden has shows spotlighting different plants at different times of the year but it seems there’s something to see from when it opens on 1st May to its closure on the 31st October.
Before we left, we visited their nursery and as before in the cafeteria, were disappointed at the lack of plants for sale. They also had various varieties of chickens for sale and quite a lot of information about each breed. One last stop for a final coffee and a chat witha very nice ‘young man’ revealed that the gardens are run as a training scheme for handicapped people and to sell their crafts. People with all sorts of disabilities are given the opportunity of learning about business in the garden shop and café, gardening, animal husbandry and catering. The scheme, he explained, hadn’t been running for long and as withall businesses in France is beset by problems with red-tape and beurocracy but it is getting there. He apologised for the lack of food and said that it was due to a shortage of volunteers to help the disabled catering trainees, however he also said that his job satisfaction at the garden was 100% improved compared to his 5 years in British catering. For more details about the gardens visit their Webseite.
On the way home we stopped at La gacilly, another beautiful location, with flower displays to die for, it’s also home to Yves Rocher – France’s answer to Bodyshop and as well as all things ecological, they sponsor a photographic exhibition every year with exhibits hung all over the buildings throughout the town. There is usually a theme (open to interpretation) and the quality of the photos is breathtaking. As well as that, the town is also home to cobbled streets filled with beautiful old traditional house and wall to wall artisans plying their crafts. A charming village and always a pleasure to visit. As we’re on the borders of Loire Atlantique, and Brittany there’s something to do and see in every direction. Come and have fun in this lovely place by booking your holiday in one of our ‘home away from home’ gites soon.