The Good Life France Magazine




The Good Life France Magazine brings you the best of France - inspirational and exclusive features, fabulous photos, mouth-watering recipes, tips, guides, ideas and much more...


Published by the award winning team at The Good Life France

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Summer 2024

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Full of fabulous features, fantastic photos - inspiring, entertaining and informative. Culture and history, destination guides including Paris, Brittany, Toulouse, Troyes, Alsace-Lorraine, Champagne and more. Discover brilliant city, country, seaside and gourmet breaks. Truly scrumptious recipes to make at home. And much, much more. Bringing France to you - wherever you are.

Le Temple-sur-Lot in the

Le Temple-sur-Lot in the Lot-et-Garonne department (between Bordeaux and Toulouse) is named after a still-impressive medieval commandery of the Knights Templar. Since the mid 19 th century, however, the village has been the temple of something else entirely - waterlilies and lotuses. Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac (1830-1911) studied law in Paris but never liked it much, and returning to his native Granges-sur-Lot to learn his horticulturalist father’s art. In 1850 he struck out on his own with the purchase of 10 acres in Le Temple-sur-Lot. It came with a stream, two wells and 14 springs. Bamboo had become fashionable in mid 19th century gardening and Joseph’s dream was to create Europe’s greatest bamboo collection. Japanese bridge Latour-Marliac From bamboo to waterlilies Even though it went well - Joseph is credited with introducing two new varieties - there was too much competition in the bamboo business, so he began to experiment with waterlilies at a time when they were all but impossible to purchase. At that time the only variety that survived outdoors in Europe was the white Nymphaea Alba. Joseph was to change all that. Through some kind of mysterious green thumbed The heavenly gardens of Marliac-Latour A temple of watery delight As spring rolls out those longed-for sunny days, Dana Facaros visits the horticultural gem in South-West France that inspired Claude Monet’s famous waterlily lake’… 40 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 41