Les Hortillonnages
A secret Venice of market gardens hides on the eastern edge of Amiens: 300 hectares of islets stitched together by 55 km of narrow waterways called rieux, tended by gardeners who still pole flat-bottomed boats called barques à cornet. It is one of the most quietly extraordinary landscapes in northern France.
A Living Landscape 2,000 Years Old
The hortillonnages — from the Picard word hortillon, meaning market gardener — were already productive plots when the Romans occupied Samarobriva. Generations of growers shaped the peat islands by hand, raising them above flood level with dredged silt.
Today around 1,200 private plots produce vegetables, flowers and fruit for local markets, and the whole mosaic is protected as a remarkable cultural landscape.
Boat Tours & Floating Art
From April to October, the Association pour la Protection des Hortillonnages runs 45-minute guided punt tours departing from the Chemin de Halage landing stage. The boats glide under willow curtains and past kitchen gardens bright with leeks and dahlias — bring a camera with a wide lens.
Each September the islands host a floating art festival, the Marché sur l'Eau de l'Art, where artists install works directly on the water and visitors drift between them by boat.
Walking the Towpaths at Dawn
Even outside tour hours, the public footpaths along the southern edge of the hortillonnages are free to walk year-round. Dawn in spring is magical: mist sits on the channels, coots argue in the reeds, and the cathedral spires rise above the willows.
Wear waterproof shoes — the clay paths hold moisture — and follow the signed Circuit des Hortillonnages loop (about 4 km) starting from the Maison des Hortillonnages on Boulevard Beauvillé.
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