Giverny
The delightful village of Giverny, close to the point where the River Epte meets the Seine, may well have remained unknown outside the immediate vicinity had Claude Monet not spotted it from a train. Seeing the beautiful village in 1883, the artist decided he would live there, and by 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and surrounding land outright. Monet then created the spectacular gardens now on display, with the intention of painting them. A number of his most famous - and certainly his most celebrated - works then followed, including the famous 'Water Lilies' series.
The house and gardens were left to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1966, by which time the gardens had overgrown significantly. After careful restoration to the gardens and the house, the grounds were opened to the public in 1980. The gardens are once again the image of how they were when Monet painted them, and the house has been a firm favourite with visitors ever since.
