Discover the four gardens: the Medicinal Herb Garden, the Abbey Garden, the Monks’ Garden and the Pharmacy Garden. Stroll and enjoy a good time amid a variety of medieval and modern colours and scents!
The Medicinal Herb Garden
The Medicinal Herb Garden is an evocation of a medieval monastic medicinal garden. At that time, a garden fulfilled two main functions: utilitarian, caring for the body, and contemplative, to soothe the mind and raise the spirits. Designed based on historical documents on medieval gardens, it invites you to discover it, recharge your batteries and relax.
The Monks’ Garden
The Monks’ Garden is a 350 m2 space next to the Monks’ Refectory. It is surrounded by walls, making it intimate without affecting its exposure to the sun. The curved designs of the 15 flowerbeds are inspired by the circular motifs of the lovely Gothic windows, topped by oculi, that can be found nearby. This helps integrate the layout perfectly into the Abbey site.
This garden includes almost 250 different species of medicinal, aromatic, culinary and dye plants. The medicinal herbs, from Europe and also other continents, have been carefully selected and are recognised by the today’s European pharmacopeia. Created and laid out by the agricultural engineers Corina Scubli and André Falisse, with the help of the pharmacists Luc Angenot and Monique Tits, the Monks’ Garden pursues two main aims: to raise the general public’s awareness of the richness and complexity of the plants used throughout human history. This garden could also become a reference for pharmacists and food and health experts. In fact, some of the species it offers are little known and rarely found in other gardens.
The Abbot’s Garden
The Abbot’s Garden has always been an ornamental area laid out in the French garden style. It consists of four grass quadrilaterals separated by the main paths in the shape of a cross and fringed with herbaceous borders. The new planting has been carried out in the borders. Almost 60 edible aromatic and ornamental species brighten up the area, respecting the original symmetry characteristic of this area.
The Pharmacy Garden
As part of the ERDF project, a fourth garden – an ornamental one abandoned since the 18th century and consisting of two terraces – has been laid out. It is on the way from the hill to the site of the ruins themselves on the new ERDF tour circuit.
Discovering the four gardens – the Medicinal Herb Garden, the Abbey Garden, the Monks’ Garden and the Pharmacy Garden – also gives you the chance to stroll and enjoy a good time amid a variety of medieval and modern colours and scents!
Access to the gardens is included in the Abbey admission price. Access during Abbey opening times.
To get the very best from the four gardens, come when the flowers are at their loveliest, between the end of July and mid-September.
