Le Jardin de l'ANETH

A potager with a heart brings life to an ancient manor house in Yvetot.

11/04/2004
Le Jardin de l'ANETH
The beautiful old Manoir du Fay, built in 1617, is no longer inhabited, yet it is full of life. In the knowledgeable hands of Denis Langlois (in the main photo above, he's the guy on the right) and the association ANETH, the walled garden of the manor house has been transformed into a vibrant organic teaching garden. ANETH stands for Animations Nature, Environnement, Techniques Horticoles and also spells 'dill' in French. (The French love to create acronyms that spell a word, and often choose names to create a catchy acronym, rather than the other way around.)

As the walled enclosure was originally a potager, so its present incarnation is also primarily a food garden, with over a hundred varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The ancient walls of the garden, made of local flint blocks covered with daub-and-wattle, are remarkable in themselves. One of them has animal bones embedded in it at regular intervals to serve as anchoring points for climbing and espaliered plants. The garden is divided diagonally into 4 triangles where meticulously tended crops are regularly rotated. There are hedges of espaliered apple trees along the axes, underplanted with nasturtiums, which serve as trap plants for aphids.

The garden doesn't have regular visiting hours, but rather opens its doors for frequent weekend open houses and demonstrations. Even though we know this garden very well, we almost always pop in for these, as our visits here always leave us feeling...well, good! Somehow it's the esprit of the place--its gentleness, its sense of care and sharing--that is always renewing. Many of the members of ANETH are handicapped persons, and the produce from the garden, shared among the members, makes an important contribution to their livelihood.

When you visit the garden, an assemblage of minor farm animals, including donkeys, goats, and chickens, remind you of the fact that the Manoir du Fay is a living small farm in the full tradition of the French countryside. The garden's open houses often feature demonstrations by local artisans, such as Roland Rougeolle (photo left), whose chestnut baskets are featured on this website.

Local gardeners may be present selling starts of plants or produce. Each event is a little different, but they're all united by a strong sense of community. Visitors can visit booths of small local suppliers of organic gardening supplies, such as the famous purin d'orties or nettle tea, which French gardeners swear by as both fertilizing tonic and insect repellent.

The garden at the Manoir du Fay is full of humor and whimsy. An ever-changing of scarecrows created by members of the association stand guard throughout the vegetables and flowers. While they hopefully prove scary to pillaging birds, visiting children find them friendly and inviting.

Encouraging children to participate and learn in the garden is one of the missions of the association ANETH, which uses many creative means to accomplish this goal. Children and adults alike are invited to use the garden as a means of personal expression, and the garden is always decorated with an ever-changing array of garden art created by its members, such as this ceramic 'totem' (photo below
right) and the humorous trompe-l'oeil painting on a garden shed (photo below left).

The garden at the Manoir du Fay is full of heirloom and unusual varieties of vegetables. One enormous bed is devoted to Jerusalem artichokes, in exuberant yellow flower in autumn, while the peripheral borders of the garden are home to medicinal and culinary herbs. One bed of what appears to be giant dandelions is in fact salsify, in flower in the photo at left.

Because sensibility to the environment is one of the missions of ANETH, the garden makes much use of recycled materials, both in practical and fanciful ways. You could say the garden has a venerable tradition in recycling, when you notice the above-mentioned wall, studded as it is with beef and even chicken femurs to serve as plant anchors. On a more whimsical note, an old mirror has been planted in one corner of the garden, creating an intriguing reflection (photo right).

In the height of French potager tradition, the garden at the Manoir du Fay has lots of flowers cohabiting with the vegetables. Roses, hydrangeas, and hypericums mingle with perennials and lots of annuals. While incorporating flowers into a vegetable garden may seem like a purely aesthetic endeavor, in fact flowers play an crucial practical role in organics as they attract beneficial insects which pollinate garden plants while predating on harmful pests. And in the harmonious environment of the Manoir du Fay, the message is definitely peaceful coexistence on Earth.

Le Manoir du Fay, rue du Manoir du Fay, 76190 Yvetot, FRANCE. Tel: (+33) (0)2 35 56 24 73

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