South France Road Trip 2018 – The Greenhouse Tour – Part 1

Highlights From This Trip

• 3 Days
• 7 Locations Explored
• ~1500 miles driven
• ~90 photographst
• Route on way to Italy

This road trip blog is split into two parts; this part covers the first half of the trip, covering our journey through the south of France. See photos from the second part of our Summer 2018 Road Trip here: Part 2 – Italy Road Trip

It is no secret that I am a sucker for a beautiful overgrown greenhouse. One of my favourite locations was the verdant wrought iron greenhouse at Chateau Rolls Royce, a classic Belgium location amongst explorers of the forgotten. In the south of France is another greenhouse, one which I have longed to visit for many years. Summer seems the perfect time for a two-week road trip, so this time we set our sights on the south of France and Italy.

We arrived into Calais late one evening and drove through the night to the south of France, arriving shortly after sunrise. We had a long route planned, with many essential locations to visit, so there was no time to rest. We warmed up (and woke ourselves up!), with a gentle start to the day. A Chateau with an attractive spiral staircase, and a tiny crumbling chapel. Making excellent time we made it to the greenhouse on the first day.

When we arrived outside the La Serre du Chirurgien there was time to take a victorious photograph of me sitting on a tree branch, the greenhouse standing behind me partially overgrown by vegetation. What a tremendous start to the road trip. We found a spot to camp nearby, cooked some food on our stoves and retired to our sleeping bags after a few beers.

Continuing the theme of overgrown vegetation, we visited Le Cloître des Orangers. This enclosed garden sadly did not have any evidence of orange trees when we visited, but the ground of the surrounding forest was densely populated with fragrant mint plants. As we walked through the trees towards the cloister, a pleasant minty aroma followed us wherever we would tread.

La Chapelle de L’ange au Violon (Chapel of the Angel and Violin) is another older location, and one I had wanted to photograph for myself for a long time. It appears some minor preservation attempts are being made, with some walls now braced on the outside and the once thick overgrowth removed from inside. Despite the lack of greenery (and being a lot smaller than I expected!), this little chapel finished off another day nicely.

We also visited a collection of abandoned red fire engines, at Caserne Saint Bernard. This location was once packed bumper-to-bumper with many more vehicles, but over recent years it has been emptied (presumably by the new site owners). There is still a nice selection of trucks, which made a nice addition to the itinerary.

We bid “adieu” to France, and drove eastward to start the second part of our road trip. Buongiorno Italy, here we come!