House / Gardens Sights in Saint-Tropez — 4 of Our Favourites

In 1910, Alfred Théodore Courmes, a businessman from Paris, decided to retire to Rayol where he built a house on a hill dominating the bay of Figuier. Around it, he created extensive gardens with subtropical plants such as palm trees, agaves and mimosas, near a vegetable garden and an orchard.

The domain went to different owners who renovated the house and gardens, until it was made public in 1989. Landscape gardener Gilles Clément turned it into a display of flora growing in Mediterranean climate, including species from south west California, central Chile, southern Africa or southern Australia, as well as the Mediterranean coast.

These gardens have been nurtured and loved to create a magical land filled with exotic and subtropical plants. A maze of paths take you through the grounds, which include an undersea trail (which you can explore with snorkelling gear) and a treasure hunt trail, and you can even get an audio guide to understand the gardens better. Many different activities are offered onsite, including exhibitions on the history and concept of the gardens, a botanical gallery, workshops for families, guided and themed tours and much more.

There is also a café and restaurant where you can have lunch and enjoy the creations of chef Cyril Dupoux, based on Mediterranean recipes and traditions, or just stop for a snack and a drink. The bookshop sells over 2,200 texts on plants, gardening, landscaping and other nature-related subjects. And you can even buy typical Mediterranean plants at their own nursery.

This wooded park offers plenty subjects of interest like a marked out botanical course or guided tours with the National Forests Office (ONF), which are suggested to children from 6 years old. There are also pleasant ponds and a playground for children.

Dogs, bicycles and picnics are prohibited.

In 1929, artist Germaine L'Hardy-Denonain (1900-1987) chose to settle in Gassin, where she gave life to the abandoned agricultural terraces on the hills of the Berle valley. This garden, divided into four levels, is now carefully tended to by her daughter.

With about 600 Mediterranean species for 2,495m², the garden is open every day for free visit in the summer, alone with a map or with Marie-Thérèse as a guide.

Learn more about local species such as the cork oak (Quercur suber), the black mulberry (Morus nigra) or the Provençal cypress. The garden changes with the seasons, with different flowers blooming in spring and autumn, no wonder it has received the "remarkable garden" label in 2009 for its respect to nature.

The property was built in 1856 by the Martin de Roquebrune family, listed as one of the most important families of the nobility. The property was then bought by the prime minister of Napoleon III, Emile Ollivier, who restored and embellished it. It is now owned by the Conservatoire du Littoral.

Inside, you can see a gallery of portraits of Ollivier's family, who married Franz Listz's daughter, and a large library with more than 4,000 volumes ordered by subjects, including a large collection of French literature with books by Hugo, Balzac, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montaigne, etc.