Thursday 29 May 2014

New garden in Poitiers

If you wondering where we've been hiding well, apologies. "Mundania", chiefly in the form of exam orals, exam marking and a stint of entrance interviews of applicants for next year's Bachelor's course have meant that blogging got sidelined.

New public garden & Hotel de Beaucé
Surfacing briefly, we thought you'd enjoy these photos taken earlier in the year when the municipal gardening team were putting the finishing touches to a new small urban space, the 'Jardins du Puygarreau' in the center of Poitiers.
Looking down along the the space from the entrance
It forms the final part of the regeneration scheme of an area behind the Hotel de Ville which we came across a year ago when we noticed the restoration of Hotel de Beaucé.
Workmen busy with the finishing touches
In order to create an extension for improved access to 7 rue du Puygarreau and a pleasant public space, three buildings - 9, 11 & 11bis were taken down. On the walls bordering the garden at the back, as well as on free standing panels, old photographs charting the life of the street have been reproduced in a series of colors. They show daily life as it was from the early 20th century onwards.
Panels are copies of photos of the street as it was
The gardens are just to the left of the Hotel de Beaucé. They have kept the traditional railings but inside the small park also contains some very modern sculpture. There are spring loaded discs for children to hop on and off as well as plenty of seating for the lunch-time visitor to enjoy their meal al fresco; weather permitting!!

The modern extension to number 7
When it opened in very early March it was still quite bare but the bones of the planting had been put in. It will be interesting to see in September when the new academic year starts again how well it has filled out after a season of growth.

1 comment:

Perpetua said...

From what I've seen in our area, the French seem to be so good at this kind of outdoor improvement. That's a very pleasant green space. :-)