I gardens
Neo-futurism
with a nod to history Sitting high above Normandy’s breathtaking Alabaster coast, the Les Jardins d’Etretat looks out over staggering white cliffs and La Porte d’Aval, a natural stone arch. The Les Jardins d’Etretat is an inspirational and experimental garden in Normandy that has recently been revived by Russianborn Alexandre Grivko, the co-founder and chief landscape architect of the international garden design company Il Nature. Grivko was rewarded for his efforts by the European Garden Awards last year who named The Les Jardins d’Etretat as the Best Historic Garden Development Award 2019. The jury was impressed by the idea and the design of a garden that captures and uses its historical roots, in particular its surroundings and its atmosphere. The gardens combine
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traditions with being a creative experimental laboratory and an open-air museum of contemporary art. Perhaps because of this unusual combination of attractions, there are more than 100,000 tourists every year, and the garden has been dubbed ‘the most instagrammable place’ in the North of France. It’s no wonder the famous French actress, La Belle Époque, Madame Tebo decided to create a garden here, planting the first tree in 1903, she was inspired by one of the founding fathers of Impressionism - an artist with a passion for gardening Claude Monet.
