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Nature In Lorraine |
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Nature In
Lorraine There are three regional country parks lying completely or partly within Lorraine. In the northeast is the Northern Vosges Park. Between the Côtes de Meuse area and the “land of lakes” lies the Lorraine Country Park. And finally, in Vosges, there is the Ballons des Vosges country parks. Each of them breathtakingly beautiful and true conservation areas. The forest cover more than 900,000 hectares, forming an exceptional natural heritage. In addition to its two mountain ranges, Argonne in Meuse and the Vosges, Lorraine also has vast areas of lower hills, the Côtes de Meuse and Côtes de Toul. There are also other natural treasures such as peat bogs. Microscopic flora, some of it carnivorous (sundew), thrives in an area that is particularly popular with dragonflies (keeled skimmer) and butterflies (brown china mark moth or yellow underwing) and is also home to the rare capercaillie. The beautiful alpine pastures of the Vosges mountains range known as “les hautes chaumes”, are the home of mountain goats as are as the limestone swards and the rare, form of candytuft (iberis violletii) in Pagny-la-Blanche-Côte (it is found nowhere else in France). You'll alse find salt lakes or meadows in the Seille Valley - this area produces plants more often seen on the coast (glasswort, wigeongrass and mudrush for example) thanks to the sub-soil being gorged with salt. If you preference is for man-made areas, you need only to visit the gardens in the cities, town centres or villages. There are over one hundred public and private parks and gardens in Lorraine, making this one of the premier garden regions in France. A few examples are the famous gardens such as Le Montet in Villers-lès-Nancy, the botanical gardens in Metz, the Gondremer garden in Housseras and the impressive Haut-Chitelet which features only mountain plants. At an altitude of 1,228 metres, you'll find plant varieties from every mountainous region in the world. Heritage buildings, castles and country houses also provide some lovely
parks and gardens. In Lunéville, you can enjoy the grounds of the
Parc des Bosquets. Also worth visiting are Haroué,Fléville,
the Château des Monthairons and Gerbéviller where a lovely
park stands adjacent to an series of walled gardens including a poisons
garden and a garden of scents. The Berchigranges garden on the slopes
of the Vosges is famous for its primroses, Art Nouveau is not forgotten
in the Jardin de la Tortue (Nancy), the Cure d’Aire Trianon (Malzéville)
and the Parc de la Garenne (Liverdun). If you prefer a more modern design,
you must visit the abbey |
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