Spring in Fons
Spring is a delightful time in Fons outre Gardon. Between February and April daytimes are usually warm and dry (12 to 20 degrees centigrade) with cool evenings when guests can enjoy the villa’s log fire, which complements the radiator heating. Most days lunch can be taken out on the covered terrace.
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The villa is situated in the Garrigue (the ridge between the Mediterranean coast and the Cevennes with small oaks and bushy, fragrant plants such as juniper, thyme, rosemary and lavender).
It is ideal for walkers, cyclists, or tourists who want to drive their car, or use the bus or train that leave from the village for the Roman city of Nimes, or Ales to the north or to Saint Jean du Gard (where in 1878 Robert Louis Stevenson completed his 200km walk with a donkey, Modestine, immortalised in his pioneering travelogue, ‘Travels with a Donkey’).
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Walkers have thousands of kilometres of paths to explore, down in the Camargue or up in the Cevennes, or simply along Grand Randonne (GR) 63 which runs past the house.
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Cyclists can enjoy the four cycles provided at the house to explore the many off-road cycle tracks described in the House Diary by previous visitors.
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Bird watchers will be enthralled by the mass of migratory sea birds down on the Camargue (45 minutes) and especially the thousands of pink flamingos in the shallow waters. The nightingale sings in our trees and the hoopoe is a regular visitor to our lawn, along with black redstarts, finches, tits and tree-creepers. Raptors circle above.
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Naturalists will adore the garrigue. In the Spring it is full of the most wonderful wild flowers. Dozens of different orchids line the roadsides and mountain tracks. Each Spring we have over 50 wild orchids in the villa garden.
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Two kilometres from Fons lies the Clos de Gaillard, a large wild park belonging to the city of Nimes. It is rich with wild flowers, birds, butterflies and insects, with information boards on the many paths to guide the traveller. A whole new world of wild plants, animals and insects awaits you in the Camargue and higher up the Cevennes mountain range – including, if you are lucky, sighting of the sanglier (wild boar).
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Places to visit in the Spring include:
NIMES
(30 minutes)
With its Roman amphitheatre (with many large annual events), maison carre, tour magna, and Jardin de la Fontaine. There is a bull-fighting festival at Easter as part of a large festival.
PONT DU GARD
(30 minutes)
The spectacular Roman aquaduct, with an excellent hands-on audio/visual museum under the reception area on the north bank).
UZES
(30 minutes)
The seat of the dukes of Uzes (yes, France still celebrates its dukes; the Fons co-operative wine cave markets its premier wine as ‘Duche de Uzes’). Uzes is full of history and boasts an internationally famous Saturday market.
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SOMMIERES
(20 minutes)
A delightful town, the final home of the novelist, Lawrence Durell, and famed for its large Saturday market and Roman bridge over the river Vidourle.
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