I was collected on Sunday morning for an outing to where I knew not … as I dozed along the way I’m still not sure exactly where we went, but we ended up near La Roque-Gageac, at Bambousaie en Cévennes, the Bamboo Forest. I think that calling it a bamboo forest underrates the place, a magnificent, sprawling botanic garden, one man’s vision and enterprise, a collection of plants from around the world, growing in a fertile valley in the south of France. As someone who has, with help, removed an inadvisedly planted stand of bamboo I could admire the varieties that are on display!

The story of the place is best written by others, see here, and the results of a garden that was begun by Eugène Mazel in 1856 is well worth a visit. Some of the original irrigation canals are still in use, and there have been additions to the concept over the years such as the Dragon Garden, a meditative garden which was started in a Year of the Dragon, 2000.

Visible from the path through the Dragon Garden are three Wollemi Pines, ancient trees doing very well so far from the Blue Mountains outside Sydney, Australia, and only discovered and brought back from the brink of extinction in 1994.

Also in abundance were treeferns from Tasmania, a giant magnolia tree, sassafras trees, oaks and yews, Lawson’s Cypress and so much more. Most plants or groups were well labelled, and there were information panels with recorded commentary in six languages dotted throughout the gardens.