Marais de Bourges (Les Marais)
Barely five minutes' walk from the cathedral, the Marais de Bourges is one of the most surprising urban nature reserves in France — a patchwork of market gardens, reed beds, willow groves and slow-moving water channels that has existed inside the city walls since the Middle Ages. Local gardeners still cultivate plots here using traditional methods, and herons, kingfishers and moorhens are a common
Walking the Channels
A network of footpaths and wooden boardwalks winds through the marais, following the channels (locally called les fossés) that were once used to irrigate the market gardens supplying the city. The main entrance is on the Avenue Marx Dormoy, from where a circular walk of about 4 kilometres takes you through the most scenic sections.
In spring the willows are bright acid-green and the channels are full of frogs; in summer the reed beds hum with warblers and the gardeners are out tending their plots of leeks and cabbages. It is a genuinely tranquil place that most visitors to Bourges never find.
The Living Market Gardens
Several of the maraîchers (market gardeners) still work their plots in the traditional way, and some sell produce directly from small stands at the edge of their gardens. It is one of the few places in France where you can watch urban horticulture that has continued more or less unchanged since the 15th century.
The produce from these gardens occasionally appears at the Saturday market on Place de la Nation — ask a stallholder if their vegetables come from les marais and you will usually get a proud answer.
Best Times to Visit
The marais is free to enter and open year-round. Dawn and dusk are the best times for birdwatching — a patient half-hour on one of the wooden viewing platforms will usually reward you with a kingfisher sighting along the main channel.
Wear waterproof shoes after rain; some of the paths become muddy. The Ville de Bourges publishes a free walking map of the marais available at the tourist office.
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