Jardin de la Serre de la Madone
Lawrence Johnston, the same Englishman who created Hidcote in the Cotswolds, spent decades assembling this extraordinary garden on a south-facing hillside above Menton. Restored and reopened in 2000, it remains one of the least-visited great gardens in France — a series of terraced rooms filled with rare plants from five continents.
What Johnston created
Johnston made collecting expeditions to China, South Africa and the American Southwest, and the plants he brought back thrive in Menton's frost-free microclimate. You'll find giant South African agapanthus growing beside Japanese maples, Burmese climbing roses scrambling over 16th-century Italianate loggias, and a pool garden that feels like a private Moorish courtyard.
The garden is structured as a series of outdoor rooms, each with a distinct character — a formal parterre, a wild woodland slope, a walled kitchen garden — linked by stone staircases dripping with wisteria. In spring the effect is overwhelming; in autumn it is quietly beautiful.
Planning your visit
The garden sits in the Gorbio valley, about 1.5 km west of central Menton on Route de Gorbio. It is small enough to explore thoroughly in two hours but rich enough to reward a longer stay — bring a picnic if you want to linger on the upper terraces with their view toward the sea.
Opening hours are seasonal and the garden closes in summer heat (July–August) and winter. The ideal windows are April–June and September–October. Visitor numbers are capped, so booking online in advance through serre-de-la-madone.com is strongly recommended.
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