La Valette Boutique
Sanilhac-Sagriès, 30700 Gard, France
A market town where the Gardon river cuts through a narrow gap between two rock outcrops, the old threshold between the Languedoc plain and the Cévennes mountains. Home to a nineteenth-century bamboo garden and a heritage steam railway. About forty minutes from Uzès.
Anduze sits where the Gardon river breaks through a narrow gap between the rocks of Saint-Julien and Peyremale, about forty minutes from La Valette Boutique, marking the old threshold between the Languedoc plain and the Cévennes mountains behind it. For two centuries it was a walled Protestant stronghold, nicknamed the Geneva of the Cévennes for the near-total conversion of its population during the Wars of Religion. Today it's known for two things a short drive apart: the Bambouseraie de Prafrance, a nineteenth-century bamboo garden with some of the tallest bamboo in Europe, and the Train à Vapeur des Cévennes, a heritage steam railway that follows the Gardon valley into the hills toward Saint-Jean-du-Gard.
| Location | Gard, at the edge of the Cévennes |
|---|---|
| Region | Occitanie |
| Recognition | Historic Protestant stronghold; the Bambouseraie holds the Jardin Remarquable label |
| Distance from Uzès | 40 km · about 40 min by car |
| Nearest airport | Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes (FNI), about 50 min |
| Typical visit | Half a day to a full day |
| Known for | The Vase d'Anduze, the Bambouseraie bamboo garden and a heritage steam railway into the Cévennes |
| Elevation | About 130 m |
| Pairs naturally with | Saint-Jean-du-Gard, at the other end of the steam railway |
About forty minutes away
We expected a pleasant market town with a nearby garden. What we found was a genuinely working landscape: the Bambouseraie is not a static museum planting but a botanical garden still growing on the same footprint laid out in 1856, and the steam railway is not a replica built for tourists but a revival of a real line that once carried goods and passengers into the Cévennes.
The scale of the bamboo is the other surprise. Some of the giant bamboo in the garden reaches twenty-five metres, closer to a forest canopy than anything most visitors picture when they hear the word 'bamboo', and it grows in dry limestone country a few hours from the Mediterranean, not in the tropics.
For current opening dates, ticket prices and train timetables, the official sites, bambouseraie.fr and trainavapeur.com, are the ones to check before you go.
What it is
Anduze grew up around the point where the Gardon river forces its way between two rock outcrops, the natural gateway between the flat Languedoc plain and the folded hills of the Cévennes. That position gave the town its old nickname, la Porte des Cévennes, the Gateway to the Cévennes, and it still shapes the place: cross the bridge out of town and the landscape changes within minutes from vineyards and garrigue to chestnut forest and mountain streams.
The centre is built around the Place Couverte, a five-hundred-year-old market square with a covered arcade that once traded barley and chestnuts and still hosts the Thursday market today. The Tour de l'Horloge, a fourteenth-century clock tower, is the only piece of the town's medieval fortifications still standing; the rest were dismantled on royal orders in the seventeenth century after the town's long history as a centre of Protestant resistance.
Two rock outcrops, a river forced between them, and on the other side a different climate entirely: it's a small piece of geography doing a lot of work.La Valette Boutique, about 40 min away
Beyond the basics
Timing
Anduze rewards a slower visit than a quick photo stop: the village, the garden and the railway are three separate things, close together but each worth real time.
Walk the Place Couverte and the Tour de l'Horloge, then choose either the Bambouseraie or a round trip on the steam train.
The village, the Bambouseraie and a return journey on the Train à Vapeur fit comfortably into a full day without feeling rushed.
The weekly market fills the Place Couverte from early morning, the liveliest way to see the square doing the job it was built for.
Practical information
Full day combinations
Ride the steam train one way to Saint-Jean-du-Gard, look around, and return by train or by road along the same valley.
The classic pairing: the market town and clock tower in the morning, the bamboo garden in Générargues in the afternoon.
About forty-five minutes apart, contrasting the Roman city with the Cévennes foothills for a full day covering two very different landscapes.
Time it for a Thursday to combine the weekly market on the Place Couverte with the garden or the railway in the afternoon.
Yes. It's about forty minutes by car and combines a genuine historic market town with two distinct attractions, a large nineteenth-century bamboo garden and a heritage steam railway, that don't duplicate anything closer to Uzès.
About 40 km, roughly 40 minutes by car.
The Bambouseraie is a 34-hectare bamboo garden in Générargues, just outside Anduze. The Train à Vapeur is a heritage steam railway running from Anduze to Saint-Jean-du-Gard. They're separate sites and separate tickets, but close enough together that a full day covers both comfortably.
A distinctive glazed terracotta urn, made in Anduze since around 1610 and originally designed to hold citrus trees that needed moving indoors each winter. The Orangerie at Versailles once held one of the most celebrated collections.
Both operate on a seasonal calendar, roughly early spring to mid-November, and close for winter. Check bambouseraie.fr and trainavapeur.com for current dates before planning a visit.
The town sits at the point where the Gardon river forces its way between two rock outcrops, the traditional crossing point between the flat Languedoc plain and the mountains of the Cévennes behind it.
La Valette Boutique is in the Gard, about forty minutes from Anduze and five minutes from Uzès. Two boutique apartments in an 18th-century stone house.
Enquire about your dates