Domaine de Valombreuse (now Gardens Valombreuse) "Valombreuse Gardens (formerly the Area of Valombreuse" ) Is a floral park located in Section Cabout SMALL TOWN, in the Basse-Terre.
From POINTE-A-PITRE, you sufffira follow the fast lane and exit when you see the direction "Great Savannah".
Established in July 1990, the park has recently been placed into liquidation but he remained active at the moment. (But it seems that the restaurant remains closed)
Located 200 meters above sea level, access to the park is relatively easy, unless you have a car that easily climbs hills.
After hearing different sounds of bells on this garden, including some rather negative, we decide us forge our own opinion.
After preparing the backpacks (bring lots of water) with a small picnic, wearing good shoes, we reached the park through the "road crossing" which crosses the Lower Ground of west to east.
Earlier this visit, we take advantage of the vegetation that shelters us from sun rays begin to warm us well as we are only in the morning.
Practical Information: The site is open daily from 15 November to 15 April and 1 July to 31 August
The site is open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 16 April to 30 June and from September 16 to November 14. The field
Valombreuse is open on holidays and school holidays.
The child activities are open Wednesdays, weekends and during school holidays.
The park is closed from 1st to September 15th.
Opening hours: from 8:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Rates: 10 € for adults, 06 € for children.
aware that some activities Children are paying, you will be offered a package to home activities.
Free activities:
- Petting
- Games Aquatic
- Trampoline
- inflatable structure
Paying activities:
- Pedal € 2
- Fishing Line 2 €
- Ballad pony or cariole € 3
- Adventure
€ 3 - € 5 Karting
Angel loved karting. You can accompany your child on the karts.
Never having done, I did not want to risk spoiling the day and it is a monitor that accompanied Angel.
Angel has also enjoyed the adventure. She was not reassured at first but then she felt more at ease and has even started a second time (for free, it's the monitor that we proposed)
The day we arrived, it lacked the staff and one employed juggled between adventure, karts, paddle boats and mini-farm.
Suddenly, Angel could make pedal as the hottest and she did not stay very long.
Nothing wrong side of the kart and adventure.
For cons, the structure goflable is located in full sun and children are burned on the buttocks by sliding the plastic overheated.
aquatic games were very refreshing, even if access to the slide was sentenced, probably due to a lack of maintenance.
Between activities, the hottest hours of the day, we preferred to explore Cabout hopping, also called cascade Valombreuse.
The beginning of the trail follows a small path.
After a few meters, the road narrows.
Bring good shoes, mud quite quickly replaces the lane.
Beware slides, otherwise you end up in water.
's go for the 11 river crossings.
Fortunately, ropes bring help to the less agile.
Despite the mud, roots, boulders and heat, Celyan (not yet 3 years old) impresses us as he walks throughout the the short hike Except for river crossings where we prefer to wear it for safety.
All in all, we market only 35 minutes to reach this wonderful place that represents the cascade of Valombreuse.
Courage Célyan pushed us to invest in buying good backpack. We believe
and do some easy hiking with children, and others a little longer when the children are in school.
But back to the "Gardens of Valombreuse"
After exercise, reassurance .....................
Again, it's Angel who jumps into the water first. The cool temperatures do not scare him.
We put a little more time to enjoy the refreshing coolness of the bath but we ApPEC swimming after these many minutes of walking that soaked our clothes . Even
Célyan was able to enjoy the clear water that flowed from the waterfall by the "turtle" on the back of his daddy.
Everyone has enjoyed this magical time, away from crowds, away from the sun that banged hard that day.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and after a quick snack, it's time to take the way back.
Some 35 minutes later, we find the floral park, but we are soaked with sweat. We deserved a little refreshed.
We take the stairs to continue our walk through the palms and greenhouses.
We were able to admire the beautiful flowers of the park, including cannas, anthuriums, hibiscus or banana decorative.
But if we should keep only one flower in our mind is the rose of china, a marvel of nature that is missing not to subjugate us to each of his appearances.
Then, towards the snack bar where children are delighted to be able to pose a just before a mirror.
They are still enough energy for fun in the park with clearance near the snack bar.
Again, the play area does not leave a great impression between games rusty, creaky ones, those injured and those who are simply broken.
At the end we still had a great day to "Valombreuse gardens.
It is true that the park frankly lack of maintenance (many games are damaged or broken), the facilities are sometimes old, that certain activities are in full sun, that staff is in short supply.
Yet these few employees were very friendly and tried to cover for absent colleagues.
We really loved the children's activities and the discovery of the cascade.
We can not advise you use good shoes for access to the waterfall and a good backpack for a picnic near the waterfall.
I read on a blog that some had been trapped by night while returning from the waterfall. One night back hampered by the mud and the many roots that litter the ground.
In fact, the night falling fast enough in Guadeloupe, it is strongly recommended to start a trip after 16 hours. Allow a little leeway at the times indicated, but know that it is night between 18 and 19 hours depending on the season in Guadeloupe.
Now it's up to you to give us your opinion on "Valombreuse Gardens", a place that could be outstanding with a little more maintenance.
I managed to make you want to visit the park?
Go, I offer you the map. It is a little rags because it followed us throughout the day, but it is still usable. (Click on photo for larger view, like all others elsewhere)