ABOVE: Menton gardens.

Menton gardens

Ma ville est un jardin is Menton’s motto – an apt phrase for a town where fragrant plumbago riots over walls, stately palms line the streets and every public space is filled with foliage and colour. Menton has four flowers – the top award in the Villes et Villages Fleuris scheme – and has also been recognised by the Grand Prix National de Fleurissement.

Unspoilt and decidedly unglitzy, this little town tucked into the farthest corner of the Côte d’Azur boasts seven gardens of world importance and just across the border in Ventimigilia, there’s the Hanbury Botanic Garden which is now a World Heritage Site.

The full story can be found in pages 44 - 47 of this months magazine.

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