Travel Stories: Jardin de Sericourt, France 2019

After leaving Jardin Plume (see previous blog post), our group headed north to visit Jardin de Sericourt. I had learned of this amazing garden by watching Monty Don’s video series, “The Gardens of France.” I am so glad I included this in our itinerary.

This garden has received France’s “Remarkable garden” status. It also was voted best garden of 2012 by the Association of French Journalists. As a garden journalist, I have to say we’re a pretty particular bunch so you know this garden is special!

It was designed by Yves Gosse de Gorre in 1985 so it’s a relatively young garden. I had never been there before but it certainly came highly recommended.

Why I included Le Jardin de Sericourt

To be honest, when I first learned of this garden, I was slightly hesitant to include it. That’s because there is a focus on war in some of the garden rooms. But I quickly realized this region of France was so impacted by World War I and II. One certainly shouldn’t close their eyes to it. My goal in putting the tour together was to choose gardens of very different character, so this met my criteria.

The garden is on approximately 10 acres and there are 29 garden rooms with different themes. Examples include the warrior garden which features columns of yews to represent soldiers. The craters represent the bomb craters that scarred this region during the war. A battlefield with red poppies to represent the blood spilled. The cathedral of roses, topiary garden, geometric garden; labyrinth of grasses; a perennial garden, and the water garden.

One particularly moving area of the garden had small clipped shrubs to represent the children left behind following the war. This included a weeping cherry tree behind them. It didn’t take much to understand the meaning of this display and feel the impact of it.

The entire garden was very quiet and peaceful, and filled with birdsong. What a moving experience.

 

   

To learn more about this garden, go to the Jardin de Sericourt website.