A Blooming Success in Montclar

This month, we’re delighted to share a story from Phil Mercer, who—along with his wife Pam—recently helped organise Montclar’s first-ever open gardens event raising money for our Association. We asked Phil to tell us how it came about, and what the experience meant for their village.

Montclar is a small ‘village circulade’ in the Malepère wine growing region, 15km south west of Carcassonne, in the Aude. With around 200 inhabitants, we have lived in the village for 17 years.

Pam first suggested having an ‘Open Gardens’ over a year ago to the village Association that puts on various events, but there was little interest in, and knowledge about, what such an event was, particularly as Montclar doesn’t have a grand château with a grand jardin. After a lot of persuasion and explanation, a group of fourteen garden owners agreed to take part, some with significant sized gardens on the outskirts of the village, and others with small courtyard type gardens in the village centre. Each garden had a theme, varying from a ‘Jardin des Dinosaures’ to a local botanist who labelled every plant in her large garden.

As the day dawned, our major concern was the weather as the Météo forecasted heavy thunderstorms all day. Visitors started to arrive at 10am and they were sold a map of the village, in aid of the Open Gardens/Jardins Ouverts (OG) charity, explaining all the open gardens. As the day progressed, the forecasted thunderstorms didn’t arrive (Montclar does translate as ‘Clear Mountain!’), and we ended the day with close to 200 visitors, and well over 100 maps sold, generating 350 Euros for OG.

In parallel with the open gardens themselves, a group of villagers decided to put large planters, and various ‘objet d’art’, around the village to brighten the streets, and individuals have taken responsibility to maintain these colourful areas throughout the year. At the debrief meeting after the open day, there was 100% agreement that it was a happy and successful event. Furthermore, we’ve agreed our second Open Gardens day for Sunday 10th May 2026, this time with a horse and cart (calèche) to take the more infirm visitors from garden to garden, as well as other improvements that will help visitors enjoy the day for the second year running.

The whole event has transformed the village in terms of our pride in our own local environment, as well as sharing knowledge and experiences of how to develop our garden expertise. We look forward to a larger number of village gardens taking part next year.

Article kindly written by Phil Mercer

We’re incredibly grateful to Phil and Pam for their dedication and enthusiasm—not only for organising such a joyful event, but also for helping us raise valuable funds to support Open Gardens/Jardins Ouverts across France.