Abbaye de Valloires

Argoules

Nestled in the wooded valley of the Authie, far from the bustle of the Baie de Somme, the abbey of Valloires is a Cistercian house like no other: founded in 1138 as the twelfth "daughter" of Cîteaux, it first knew prosperity – nearly a hundred monks in the 12th–13th centuries – then the ceaseless plundering of the Hundred Years' War, the Huguenots, the Spanish and the Imperial troops. Ruined several times over, it was reborn in the 18th century under the guidance of the architect Raoul Coignard: the present abbey church, consecrated in 1756, displays a rare Rococo decor, almost unexpected in a Picardy abbey. Sold as national property at the Revolution and saved from destruction by a local aristocrat, it then passed through a thousand lives: the organ-building workshops of the Basilian monks, an orphanage, then, in 1922, a preventorium founded by the nurse Thérèse Papillon to care for frail children in the fresh air of Picardy. Since 1989, the contemporary gardens designed by Gilles Clément, more than 4,000 rare species over eight hectares, have given Valloires a new vocation: that of a place of silence, convalescence and beauty, where the eventful history of the Cistercian monks lives on in the patient care given to plants and souls alike.

Getting there : Open to the public (abbey and gardens), admission charge, closed some days out of season; Argoules, Somme

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound