The Landscape of History
In Nearby Coutances, The Story Unfolds That Land Was Gifted to the Town in 1850 On the Understanding that it Became a Garden for the Enjoyment of Others. It was Was Watercolour Artist JS Minel Who Designed the Subsequent Jardin Des Plantes, Combining Playful Beds of Color-Rich Flowers with English-Style Parkland Trees and Italianate Terraces with Neatly Clipped Formal Hedging. By Far the Loveliest View within the Garden is that of the Colorful Flower Borders That Lead The Eye Towards The Town’s Twin-Spired Cathedral.
Near the Northwestern Tip of the Cotentin Peninsula, as i am Learning the History of the Garden Botanique De Vauville With Eric Pellerin, I Discover It was his father, Guillaume, a Landscape Architect, Who Redesigned the Rose Garden I admired on the Museum Christian Dior. Eric’s Parents additionally continued growing Vauville’s Botanical Garden, Created Originally in 1948 by Eric’s Grandfather.
“My Grandfather was a perfumer working at Roger & Gallet and, Concuntly, Fascinated by Plants,” Says Eric. “When He Married My Grandmother, He Came to Live With Her at Château de Vauville, The Family Home. He Wanted to Create, Foremost, An Evergreen Garden, One that include species from the Southern Hemisphere. It is a traveler’s Garden,” He saying out Species from Australia, New Zealand, New Zealand, New Zealand Uruguay and Vietnam.
The Château was occupied by German Troops During the Second World War. Within the Garden is a pathway, Created to Carry Sand to make Bunkers, Which has been saved as a reminder of the occupation.
TODAY, it’s eric who tends the microclimate backyard, which sits so near the coast, the roar of the surf provides ambient soundbites. Other Than Natural Regeneration, Eric Adds Up to 100 Plants Per Year to the Officially Recognized Botanical Collection “but their must be varieties we do not,” he say. Above all, he explains Thoughtfully, “The Garden must retain features created by my parents and greatparents”.
I’m Shown Into a Garden Bothy the place metallic watering cans, seed ads and historic gardening implements are displayed. “My Father Loved to Collect Gardening Tools; He Accumulated Around 15,000 gadgets… Which I’m Now Cataloguing,” He Says Rolling His Eyes Affectionately. It is vital historic document of France’s love of Gardening. I Cross the Cotentin Peninsula from West to East, Catching the Amphibious Boat from Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue to i’lle Tatihou, the Whole Island a Protected Natural Site.
Though is nearly doable to the touch the island from the harbor, there’s an excited sense of Heading SomeWhere Exotic on the Ten-Minute Crossing of the Cerulean Blue Bay. We approve, I Spy a Deserted Sandy Beach. Boat Capacity, With Only A Few Crossings A Day, Means l’Ile Tatihou Remains unique. Most Day Visitors Wander Around the Gardens, Visit the Maritime Museum, which Tells the Battle of the Hougue Between French and English Naval Fleets in 1692, and the Consequential Vauban Fort, then Leave. It permits me to wander to different elements of the small island and never see a soul. And to relish the seventies and succulents of the walled backyard within the occasion, as i keep on the island, considered one of solely 11 in a single day visitors.
By late afternoon, it is as if the plug has been pulled from the bay, and the ocean vanishes to disclose a ghostly skeleton of oyster beds. Folk, service luggage and a fork in hand, scratch out a seafood supper from the squelching sand.
By Morning, a Storm is rising and the amphibious boat that had saled so elegantly the day before today, now approaches throughout the causeway in sleepy daybreak gentle on ‘all fours’ to rescue the Overnight visitors. Much as i’d like to be marooned on the island, the overland return to the peninsula feels as a lot an journey as the ocean crossing.
I Travel Southeast, to the outskirts of Bayeux, the place the Gardens of the Château de Brécy are LAID OUT in formal French fashion. It is considered one of Few Remaining Seventeenth-Century Classical Gardens, Extraordinary in Detail with embroidery, Symmetry and Neatly Clipped Topiary. Designed Over Four Levels, Each Layer Reveals Another Garden and Another, with a Central Stone Stone Staircase Leading to Opulent Pillars.