PRESS DOSSIER - Les jardins de Colette

PRESS BOOK
Lieu-dit « Lachassagne »19240 Varetz
05.55.86.75.35/ 05.55.22.89.66 (fax)
info@lesjardinsdecolette.com
CONTACT PRESSE
Clémentine FRECHINOS
Office de Tourisme de Brive et son Pays
Tél (LD): 05.87.01.60.04
Mobile : 06.31.80.63.71
clementine.frechinos@brive-tourisme.com
Presentation
“Les Jardins de Colette” project was created thanks to Varetz municipality and the Agglo of
Brive (commune of Brive and its suburbs).
The first beds were realised on March 2007. The inauguration happened on October 2007 and
the opening on May 2008. It’s a young 5 ha contemporary flower garden. Up to this day, it
welcomed more than 85 000 visitors.
This garden is dedicated to the French writer Colette, famous and unique author of the 20th
century. It is divided into six gardens, each one representing a French region where she lived.
This garden is situated in Varetz and is dedicated to Colette because she lived in the Correze
region and loved nature. Between 1911 and 1923, she resided in the Castel Novel castle with
her second husband, Henry de Jouvenel. “Les Jardins de Colette” is set near this castle.
An architect office from Bordeaux called “Atelier R” with Laurent Duplantier and Anouk
Debarre created the concept of the garden: step by step, “Les Jardins de Colette” takes the
visitor through Colette’s extraordinary life. We travel through her written works, her dreams
and her emotions. It’s a mini-tour of the landscapes of France.
The landscape architect imagined the red building to remind the local stone which is red
sandstone. It is a contemporary creation made with materials like wood and concrete often
used today.
In each garden we meet an information board presenting a part of Colette’s life but also
extracts of her books. The landscape architect drew one’s inspiration from these extracts to
create each garden. Danielle Justes, manufacturer of mosaics, artist from Landes region
created a blue leaf in each garden. This one represents the predominant essences of the garden
and the blue colour was chosen because it was Colettes’s favourite colour and because she
wrote her books on a blue paper.
The garden furniture of floral park was imagined by Anouk Debarre and realised by the
“Atelier Pommarel”. We can see a wisteria seat, granite benches, gates and benches with olive
branches. The modern furniture strengthens the atmosphere of each garden.
The entrance of the gardens
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A garden with six facets
General plan of the floral park
The floral park « Les Jardins de Colette » is, in reality, a tour of France with six stops. Each
garden shows an important period in Colette’s life. Visitors can discover step by step the
incredible life of Sidonie Gabrielle Colette, also called in France « Our Colette ».
Saint Sauveur en Puisaye
Castel Novel
Les Monts-Boucons
La Treille Muscate
Rozven
Le Palais Royal
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Six gardens, six landscape scenes
First garden: Burgundy garden
The childhood of Colette
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette was born on january the 28th of 1873 in
Saint-Sauveur en Puisaye in Burgundy. Her mother Adèle Eugénie Sidonie
Landoy conveys her daughter nature and animals love. She always tells
her “Look!” Her father is the Captain Jules Colette. Colette has a half sister Juliette and also two brothers called Achille and Léopold. Colette is
the last child of the family and loves playing in the garden.
Her half-sister Juliette gets married with a doctor who asks the dowry. The
family doesn’t have a lot of money. The childhood house is rent and the
movable properties sold. Colette’s family leaves Saint-Sauveur en Puisaye
to settle then in Châtillon-Coligny (Loiret region). Colette is 18, but she
never forgets her native village…
Colette’s house was surrounded by two gardens: a botanical garden
called “the upper garden” and a vegetable garden called “the lower
garden”. That’s why both gardens were created here. Colette is also very
greedy so she enjoys eating good food.
In the botanical garden, the visitors can admire roses, daylilies,
hydrangeas… and in the vegetable garden, tomatoes, strawberries, globe
artichokes…Both gardens are surrounded by hornbeams to symbolize the
family cocoon.
Then, they discover an orchard with prunus in reference to the first book
Colette wrote in 1900: Claudine à l’école. In this story, Claudine has an
exam but she falls asleep in an orchard just before it. One of her friend
comes to wake up her and Claudine goes in for the exam with lots of
flowers in her hair.
Examples of books inspired by this place:
« Claudine à l’école » (1900)
« La Maison de Claudine » (1928)
« Sido » (1929)
Caryoteris
A variety of pepper
Colette when she
is five
The upper garden
Currant bushes
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Second garden: Franche-Comté garden
First wedding with Willy
Captain Colette takes her daughter to a Parisian bookshop where she
meets Henry Gauthiers-Villars. This man has a nickname: Willy. He is an
urbane and epicurean journalist. He is a friend of Colette’s brother, Achille.
Colette gets married with him in 1893. She’s twenty and he is thirty four,
thanks to him she discovers the Parisian bourgeoisie. She makes friends
with Anatole France, Marcel Proust… nevertheless many people is
surprised by her burgundy accent and by her two long plaits. But, she
discovers that Willy is unfaithful. She is confined to bed for more than
sixty days. Then, Willy asks her to write her childhood memories. At that
moment, Colette starts writing Claudine à l’école, and then Claudine à
Paris, Claudine en ménage , Claudine s’en va. But it’s Willy who signs
these books and with the money he wins, he can buy the Mont-Boucons
property near Besançon in Franche-Comté.
Due to the infidelities of Willy, the couple breaks up in 1907 and they
divorce in 1910.
Colette, Willy and
Toby-chien
In this garden, people can appreciate two different spaces, a leafy one
and a woody one. In the first one, there are Dutch poplars, beeches, wild
cherry trees and in the second one: fir-trees, bald cypresses… The landscape
architect wants to put forward a contrast between the lightness of the leafy
forest and the darkness of the coniferous forest.
Examples of books inspired by this place:
« Minne » (1903)
« Dialogues de bêtes » (1904)
« La Retraite Sentimentale » (1907)
Leafy forest
Narcissus
Hibiscus
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Third garden: Brittany garden
Colette and Music Hall
In 1906, Colette meets Mathilde de Morny marquise whose
nickname is “Missy”. This woman is a friend but she’s like a mother too
for the writer in music-hall world. To win money, Colette begins a new
career into theatre and mime. Both women decide in 1910 to buy a manor
house in Brittany, but only Colette signs the bill of sale. Why? Because
the owner doesn’t want Missy to sign it. Indeed she wears pants like a
man and at that period it was forbidden and scandalous. This manor is
called “Rozven”. Colette welcomes her family and friends like the actress
and filmmaker Musidora, the writer Francis Carco… in this bucolic Eden.
From the garden, Colette can see the Brittany granite coastline. She loves
this region for the sea and wonderful sceneries.
In 1923, Colette writes one of her most famous book: Le Blé en Herbe. It
deals with a love story between a young boy and an older lady and the
entire story takes place in Brittany.
Colette during her
music hall’s career
In this garden, there are several varieties of thistles and lots of
pines, characteristic of the seafront. Granite blocks and benches give to this
place, a unique atmosphere.
Examples of books inspired by this place:
« Le Blé en herbe » (1923)
« Regarde » (1929)
« Le Pur et l’Impur » (1941)
The Brittany garden
Blue Eryngium
Colette during her
music hall’s career
Verbena Bonariensis
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Fourth garden: Correze garden
Second wedding with Henry de Jouvenel
In 1910, Colette becomes journalist for the newspaper “Le Matin”.
She writes her first tale and has an incisive style! She writes articles about the
arrest of Bonnot gang, about Tours trial… She meets one of the editor:
Henry-de-Jouvenel. They get married in 1912 and have a daughter in 1913:
Colette Renée called “Bel-Gazou” which means “nice language”. Colette is
forty years old. The “little Colette” lives in Castel Novel castle with her
English nanny Miss Draper.
During the First World War, Henry de Jouvenel is called up and goes to
Verdun. Colette stays in Paris with friends. In 1921, her husband is senator of
Correze and works hard for its development. Colette and her husband get
divorced in 1925.
Colette and Henry
de Jouvenel
This green garden is composed of willow trees, typical in Correze
between 1850 and 1930. Wicker baskets were made with it; it was used in
Bordeaux region to transport grape harvest. Then, the visitors can see hundredyear-old oaks that Colette could see also in Castel Novel park. The henhouse
pays homage to Colette Renée who enjoys taking care of hens and other
animals when she lives in Correze.
Examples of books inspired by this place:
Correspondances avec Marguerite Moreno, Hélène Picard, Annie de Pène,
Georges Wague, Francis Carco…
« L’Entrave » (1913)
« Ballet pour ma fille » (1913)
« La paix chez les bêtes » (1916)
« Mitsou ou comment l’esprit vient aux filles » (1919)
Pebbles path
The castle of Castel Novel
Colette with her daughter
Bel-Gazou
The henhouse
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Fifth garden: Provencal garden
Third wedding with Maurice Goudeket
Colette meets Maurice Goudeket in 1925 and discovers Provencal region
with him. She loves Provence, native land of her father who came from Toulon.
In 1926, Colette sells Rozven and buys a house in Saint-Tropez: The “Treille
Muscate”. She calls it like this in reference to the abounding vineyard in her
garden. At these days, Saint-Tropez was a fishing village. Colette falls in love
with the beauty of nature and sea.
Colette tries to create a free and abounding garden but it doesn’t grow. She hates
writing in Provence because she’s always outside to discover new wonders! But
every night she locks herself in her work and writes on blue paper.
Entering in Provence garden we discover vineyards, bamboos to remind
the vegetation of the “Treille Muscate”. But it doesn’t grow as well as she would
like, so Colette asks advice to a gardener. He explains her that a garden has to be
ordered to develop. So, the visitors can see a second one, more structured, with
many flowers and colours. There are red Crocosmia Lucifer, blue agapanthus,
yellow daylilies but also olive-trees, cypresses, lavenders, pines… Then there is
the rose garden, Colette and her mother loved roses. Her favourite one was the
“Cuisse-de-Nymphe” rose. The most important one must be “Colette rose”
created in 1995 by Meilland. Then, the landscape architect imagines a strange
blue construction called the “outdoor bedroom”. It represents the “Treille
Muscate” terrace where Colette sleeps on a raffia mattress. She enjoys from the
garden smells, silence and night atmosphere.
Colette and
Bel-Gazou
Colette rose
Examples of books inspired by this place:
« La Naissance du jour » (1928)
« La Treille Muscate » (1932)
« Le Toutounier » (1939)
Provencal fountain
Provencal meadow
Lavenders and olive trees
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Sixth garden: Palais-Royal garden
A famous writer internationally recognized
The walk concludes with an evocation of the gardens of the Palais
Royal where Colette lives until the end of her days. In 1938, Colette resides 9,
rue de Beaujolais in Paris in Palais-Royal building. She suffers from arthritis
but she can appreciate the view from her window on the beautiful garden with
lime trees. During the Second World War she goes to Curemonte in Correze
where her daughter lived. There she writes Journal à Rebours which deals with
war exodus. Her husband Maurice Goudeket who is Jewish is under arrest and
transferred to Compiègne camp. He is released in 1942 thanks to Colette. She is
received in the Académie Goncourt in 1945 and becomes president in 1949. In
1953, she receives the Paris medal and she is said to be the most important writer
after George Sand. She dies in 1954. It’s the first woman to have national
funerals. The writer was buried in Père-Lachaise cemetery near one of her
favourite author: Honoré de Balzac.
Colette in the
Palais Royal
The last garden is the most structured, it looks like a formal garden with two
alleys of lime trees. The flowerbeds show different colours and varieties of
flowers. Here, everything is done to remind the visitors the special atmosphere of
the garden of the Palais-Royal.
Examples of books inspired by this place:
« De ma fenêtre » (1941)
« Belles saisons » (1945)
« Pour un herbier » (1948)
« Le Fanal Bleu », « Autres Bêtes », « En pays connu » (1949)
Lime trees
The Palais Royal garden
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Lose yourselves in Colette’s footsteps thanks to giant maze
This maze covers nearly 5000 m² and is
made of willows. It is a literary adventure
for younger visitors. It was created by
Labyrinthus society. Children can lose
themselves in the writer’s life and works.
The maze has a butterfly shape because
Colette loved them and collected them.
A view of the giant maze from the sky ©Michelblot.com
It’s a kind of paper-chase. They have to open five doors with codes and they can find them
thanks to the clues hidden in the maze. It lasts one hour thirty and children can discover the
Colette’s world while they are playing.
A detail of the giant maze ©Michelblot.com
Notebook for the game in the giant maze
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A staff at your disposal
Les Jardins de Colette’s staff welcomes visitors throughout the season and makes them
discover this original place which will, for sure, arouse visitors’ curiosity.
A warm and personal welcome
The visitors are welcomed by the staff who will present the floral park and the different ways
to visit. They can choose to discover the park on their own with an audio guide or a leaflet.
The most curious and audacious will go with a leaflet in the giant maze!
A fascinating guided tour for
groups
Three professional guides will invite the visitors to travel
in Colette’s life and writings. A one-hour-guided tour
sprinkled with floral and literary anecdotes offers a
unique visit. It will make the visitor want to read or read
again Colette’s books. Montherlant, a French writer said
about her that “she is the best natural French writer.”
Guided tour
An original shop
Our shop is like the gardens, that is to say, a mix
between literature and botanic. You can find most of
Colette’s books, several ones about flowers and plants,
tools for children who like to do some gardening and
bird’s baths made of wrought iron... Our staff remains
at the disposal of the visitors to give some advice.
The shop
A tea room in the heart of
nature
A tearoom opened on the gardens allows people to stay
a little bit more with Nature. They can drink cold and
hot drinks, and for the greediest there are ice creams
and waffles. Don’t miss to taste the Colette’s tea!
The tea room
Opening hours
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Open from 1st April to 1st November 2015
Open from Wednesdays to Fridays from
10:00 to 12:30 and from 14:00 to 17:30,
closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and open
Saturdays and Sundays from 14:00 to 17:30
Open from Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00
to 12:30 and from 14:00 to 18:30, closed on
Mondays
Open every day from 10:00 to 19:00
April, October, November
May, June, September
July, August
Admission fees
Free visit (access to the maze included)
Adults
Children
under 12
Children
under 6
Groups
(15 people
or more)
Special
rates
From May 15th to
6,50€
3,50€
4,50€
August 31st
From March 30th
Free
4€
to May 14th
4,50€
2,50€
3,50€
From September
1st to October 31st
Animation extra fees: 1.50 € / adult and 1 € / children over 3 years old.
School
groups
2€/3€
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If you need some views of Colette’s gardens, don’t hesitate to ask us. We
can send you several images of each garden.
Parc Floral « Les Jardins de Colette »
Lieu dit « Lachassagne » 19240 Varetz
Tél : 05.55.86.75.35
Fax : 05.55.22.89.66
E-mail : info@lesjardinsdecolette.com
Site Internet: www.lesjardinsdecolette.com
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