Puntos de Interés
Vegetation
European garden heritage network
The European Garden Heritage Network was launched in 2003 with the aim of creatively restoring previously degraded areas, thus creating a network of small botanical gardens in the natural environment of France, Portugal and Spain, helping to raise public awareness of the need to care for the environment and promote its protection. Different public institutions and private organisations from Portugal, France and Spain are involved in the initiative. This garden in Modúbar de la Emparedada, restored in recent years, is part of this Europe-wide project. It has given it a new lease of life, and it is now home to a variety of ducks and provides a pleasant stroll.
In Portugal, there are two gardens. The first is in Vila Nova de Paiva, where an old Queiriga nursery was restored, with wide diversity of south-western European vegetation. Thanks to this variety of species, there are different thematic, colourful, aromatic, ethnobotanical and even historical gardens. In the Portuguese town of Guarda, in the Sierra de Estrella Natural Park, the BeirAmbiente association has created a garden on the banks of a reservoir, specialising in the medicinal vegetation of south-western Europe, while locals take advantage of the facility for recreation.
In France, the garden of La Chaise-Dieu, an area 70% covered by resinous trees in the Livradois-Forez Natural Park, is also part of the initiative. Here, the aim was to create a garden specialising in fruit trees from this part of Europe, and restoring the existing arboretum in the area.
As well as restoring the natural spaces, the scheme also endeavours to raise awareness and involve the public of the different countries in the initiative with activities like the publication of a book on vegetation, the holding of a work camp for young people, and seminars and talks on the characteristic plants and trees of south-west Europe.