What is the Floral Towns and Villages label?
From a simple competition when it was created in 1959, today Floral Towns and Villages has become a national award that has changed over the decades to keep up with citizen and visitor expectations. Though the approach remains focused on the symbol of the flower today its scope of action is much wider: respect for the environment, maintaining social cohesion, citizen and visitor well-being, plants and greenery in public spaces, maintaining bio-diversity...
Here are the main criteria now applicable to this national label:
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quality of welcome (pleasant atmosphere, a clear identity, parks and gardens to visit, events around gardens and gardening)
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respect for the environment (sustainable and respectful natural resource management, action plans in favour of biodiversity, natural spaces to visit, nature-focused events)
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social cohesion (inclusion programmes through gardening, spaces for meeting and sharing in and around gardens, educational events)
Towns and villages are awarded 1 to 4 flowers by regional and national juries, depending on the number of awarded flowers. You'll find the flowers on the entry signs to each town.
Which towns and villages in Nouvelle-Aquitaine have the label?
369 towns and villages in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, have been labelled Floral Towns and Villages. Among the 4 flower towns you'll find: Angoulême, Biarritz, Blanquefort, Limoges, Marans, Périgueux, Pau, Saintes or Thouars. Here are some smaller towns and villages that have also been labelled and are definitely worth a visit: Saint-Fraigne (Charente), Saint-Sauvant (Charente-Maritime), Ayen (Corrèze), Lioux-les-Monges (Creuse), Daglan (Dordogne), Gaas (Landes), Saint-Vivien-de-Monségur (Gironde), Dondas (Lot-et-Garonne), Aydius (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), Saint-Généroux (Deux-Sèvres), Angles-sur-l’Anglin (Vienne), Montrol-Sénard (Haute-Vienne).
And a special mention for the Dordogne Department and Landes Departement, awarded the national prize for "Floral Department".
What to see in a Floral town or village?
It goes without saying that if you visit a town or village with the label you'll discover parks and gardens but you'll also see well-planted streets, well-tended town entrances… in short, well nurtured and maintained public spaces for a good quality of life. The label plays close attention to all initiatives that contribute to improving towns and villages: road and house maintenance, overall cleanliness. The label is not just about flowers, it's about quality of life!
What's more, many towns and villages will offer guided tours of their most scenic green areas, nature outings to discover their biodiversity, year round events (plant and flower markets, garden and nature shows…). You'll find out all the information you need in the Tourist Offices of the towns and villages concerned!
Follow us, the editors of Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Tourisme.com as we show you around… our home.
From the peaks of the Pyrenees to the Marais Poitevin canals via the wharfs of Bordeaux, the beaches of the Atlantic to the shores of Lake Vassivière near Limoges, Nouvelle-Aquitaine is full of fascinating, entertaining stories that will amuse one and all.