art and gardens
The French culture regarding art and the environment is different from that in UK. There are often walks in the countryside which are accompanied by musicians or singers. Sometimes the musicians wait en route and play when the walkers approach. In the gardens there are frequent exhibitions of sculptures or paintings. Last weekend I went to an event which combined a garden visit with a walk and a dance performance. The garden was classical French- a park rather than a garden. There were no flowers just trees. But what magnificent trees. They were mostly hornbeam. They were laid out in geometric forms or in long alleys. It was big, big enough to have fully grown trees in most of the areas. Some of the trees were pruned to keep their size to form hedges some were allowed free rein to show their magnificence. Even hornbeams had been shaped as in topiary. We met the leader of the event and she gave us an introduction to the event. We were all given a mini cd player. We we...