The style of the "Secret Gardens"
  | Nicole and Alain have used material in their gardens material rarely used by landscape artists which they have often changed from their original function. So, using wood, pebbles, lime mortar, copper has made the Secret Gardens so original and special.  Water and flowers were then added to the original elements :- Water, harnessed and channelled, flows and gushes in the pools and fountains in each garden. - The flowers : wise or wild, reflect the architecture which they magnify and tame. The style of the Secret Gardens has established itself through the different and complementary characters of Alain and Nicole : the garden of a couple combining the strength and daring of one, with the sensitivity and poetry of the other. Numerous visitors who have visited the gardens have commented on the similarity to 'the postman Cheval'. If the stubborn and passionate approach of Alain can be compared to 'Ferdinand Cheval',the result is very different. Far from being the work of a single person, the Secret Gardens are the creation of a couple, a family and are above everything an open, warm and living place. |