The Village

A village out of time

Perched on its hill, Gerberoy seems to have stopped somewhere between the Middle Ages and the Belle Époque. Its cobbled lanes, half-timbered houses and rose-filled gardens have earned it, since 1982, the label of Most Beautiful Villages in France. With barely eighty inhabitants, it is one of the smallest in the listing, and undoubtedly one of the most secret.

A frontier town

In the 11^th century, Gerberoy was a stronghold contested between the Kingdom of France and the Duchy of Normandy. Legend has it that it was beneath its ramparts that Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror, wounded his own father in 1079 during a celebrated siege. From that turbulent era, the village has kept its compact layout, its gates and a few vestiges of fortifications, witnesses to a past far more eventful than today's peaceful gardens would suggest.

The rebirth of the roses

At the turn of the 20^th century, the painter Henri Le Sidaner fell in love with Gerberoy and settled there. With the help of the villagers, he imagined a systematic flowering of the old lanes: climbing roses, wisterias, clematis. The village became his open-air studio and, little by little, the « City of Roses ». Every year in June, the Rose Festival carries on this tradition in a village dressed up for the occasion.

What to see on site

The Church of Saint-Pierre, sober and luminous, dominates the main square. The Henri Le Sidaner gardens, laid out on the flank of the former castle, offer a sweeping view over the Picard countryside. The Jardin des Ifs, classified as a Remarkable Garden, reveals its centuries-old topiaries shaped into striking geometric forms. A few minutes are enough to walk around the village, the idea being less to see everything than to let oneself be surprised by a detail, a wisteria, a window.

Find out more

The Picardie Verte tourist office gathers practical information, guided tours and upcoming events.

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