A 35,000 square meter floral park 30 minutes from Toulouse...
This park is also ranked among the most beautiful in France.
It all began in 1969, when Marie-Thérèse and André Reynier left their native Aveyron to settle in Giroussens and embark on farming.
Passionate about floral beautification, the couple quickly began landscaping the area around the farm. Getting into the spirit of it, they entered the Tarn Flower Farms competition, winning first prize several times between 1975 and 1980!
Enough to give their son plenty of ideas... Their garden quickly attracted visitors.
In 1994, they expanded their garden, doubling its size, then transformed a building into an exotic greenhouse and created a mini-farm in a former duck breeding park.
It was an immediate success, and it only grew: 3,000 people were welcomed to the Gardens in the first year, 15,000 the following year, 23,000 in 1996, and up to 35,000 in 1997... The site's reputation quickly spread beyond the Tarn region!
So much so that it now attracts around 60,000 visitors per year.
This garden is actually a juxtaposition of many different gardens, a banana plantation, and a mini-farm.
2,500 plant varieties are listed here.
An aquatic greenhouse recreates the atmosphere of a tropical forest.
From the Martels Gardens, you can head to Saint-Lieux-les-Lavaur, a few kilometers away, to discover the locomotives of yesteryear at the Tarn Industrial Railway Museum.
Climb into an old Micheline for a 50-minute ride. Cross the village, over a 100-year-old viaduct, and through the forest...
Jardin des Martels
81500 Giroussens
05 63 41 61 42
www.jardinsdesmartels.com
