The English-style park of Nogent-sur-Marne

Although the garden of the 16 rue Charles VII had already been renovated in the middle of the 19^th century, in 1861, the Smith family turned the park of the adjoining house into an English-style garden, characterized by a seemingly wild nature. In 1895, the two gardens were joined to form a large 10-hectares park located between the street on the upper part and the Marne river on the lower part. It was labeled picturesque site in 1909. 

The park is mainly comprised of ash trees, sycamores, pine trees, beech trees and lime trees. It is also home to some rare species like a honey locust, a weeping ash, a Japanese sophora and a Judas tree, as well as some outstanding species such as an Austrian black pine and a black Italian poplar. Aside from its majestic trees, the park also has a meadow, and two workshops from the 19^th century: a dovecote and an old half-timbered cowman house built in a picturesque rustic style currently used as an engraving studio. Since 1999, the Fondation des Artistes has made part of the park available to the Confrérie du Petit Vin Blanc de Nogent (website in French only), which replanted 450 Chardonnais wine plants. It rekindled the production of the traditional “little white wine of the Val-de-Marne”, which made the fame of local cafes at the beginning of the 20^th century.  

To visit the gardens (page in French only)