During your stay at the Domaine du Val, take a break among perfumes and flowers: an escapade to the jardins de Valloires! Splendid landscapes gardens in the Authie valley, created by the inspiration of Gilles Clément, who also designed the gardens of the Parc Citroën in Paris.
Situated around the Cistercian Abbey of Valloires, they were planted from 1987 and have delighted visitors ever since.
Stroll along the alleys that divide the garden and take in the gorgeous colours: the blue garden is a reminder of how the Cistercian monks were attached to water and the white garden recalls the colour of their frieze robeâŠ
Pass from isle to isle, - that's what Gilles ClĂ©ment called the beds he designed - in a walk that feels like a path through an archipelago. Murmur their poetic names to your companions as you stroll along: lilac isle, golden isle, silver isle, summer isle; and: soft needle isle, butterfly isleâŠ
Your senses of hearing and smell, of course, and of touch and taste too will be alert. What's more, a garden of the five senses will be a delight for children, for whom their particularly intended. They can touch the needles and furry leaves, listen to the gentle music of bamboo rustling in the wind and taste edible flowers.
Sébastien Crépy uses these same daffodils, tulips, pansies, violets and nasturtiums in his restaurant the Table du Jardinier. How about savouring a succulent mille-feuille of roots and mentholated cream or a floral pancake and preserved pear with rose wine? And the ultimate in country fare: order a delicious outdoor picnic meal in the gardens...
"Souviens-toi /Ăa parlait/De la Picardie /Et des roses /Quâon trouve lĂ -bas" ("Do you remember/It was all about/Picardy/And the roses/That grow there")⊠These words from a song by Yves Montand perfectly evoke the rose garden with 80 varieties. At the end of this spring, come and admire the Rose des Cisterciens, created to honour the 900th anniversary of the Ordre de CĂźteaux or the Rose de Picardy, created in 2004 to celebrate the Entente Cordiale between France and Britain.
And finally, take a walk through the garden of evolution, designed as a homage to Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, Picardy naturalist. He is an illustration of a highly topical idea: man cannot alter the fruit of millions of years of evolution to "satisfy his immediate desires...".
Classified as a "Noteworthy garden", the Jardins de Valloires holds over 5,000 species spread over 20 acres. And it's only 20 miles from the Domaine du Val, hardly half an hour by car. So you've no excuse not to pay it a visit while youâre in the Bay of Somme!
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