FIELD GARDEN

Just behind the Charles-De-Gaulle esplanade, set up on the former military Champ-de-Mars of the city, a magnificent English public garden has been set since the 20th century and open to the public since 1900. Designed by Edouard André, also designer of the Buttes-Chaumont in Paris, the Champ-de-Mars garden has in its centre a pond with curved lines in which a plethora of ducks and swans wade. The range of plants represented is extensive and characteristic of the fashionable essences at the beginning of the 1900s. Podocarpus, ginkgo, orange trees of Osages, magnolias, cedars, nettle trees and blue palm trees decorate the vast lawns, overcrowded by the Montpellier inhabitants as the first rays of sun show up. Here, the atmosphere is relaxed, with the students playing guitar, the workers taking a nap during their lunch picnic or families strolling. If the place is very pleasant during the day, the Montpellier inhabitants will not advise you to go there in the evening because, despite the efforts of the municipality, this garden is "the hunting ground" of many small dealers, especially in the summer. The atmosphere during the day is fortunately much more pleasant.