Le Vasterival
Le Vasterival, Jardin Botanique de France, is a garden for all seasons at Sainte-Marguerite-Sur-Mer in Normandy, and it is particularly suited to visiting in spring.
In 1957 Princess Greta Sturdza, a talented Norwegian, started to create this magnificent garden in a natural style covering 7 hectares of acid soil and a kilometre from the sea. Today it is one of the finest in France, with a huge range of plants which thrive to perfection in its composted earth.
Its informal design with paths, woodlands, glades and immaculate grass walks leading temptingly in all directions, contains a richness of flora in a variety of settings all the year round.
Penelope Hobhouse and Patrick Taylor, in their book, ‘The Gardens of Europe’, state: “Few gardens elicit superlatives as easily as Le Vasterival. It sets standards that all gardeners should aim at but few will attain”.
Princess Sturdza published two books: ‘Le Jardin d’une Passion’ (1997) and ‘Le Vasterival – The Four Season Garden’ (2006). Sadly, aged 94, she died on 30 November 2009.
Our Garden Tours
Passionate about beautiful gardens? Experience the finest gardens on one of our small and friendly group tours.
See our tour itineraries here
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