It has four permanentgardens and a textile museum

Tag : Colours Textile


The Voices Trudy Simpson takes it nice and easy
JUST hours away from Britain, a different world waits in the shapeof France. But rather than hit world famous Paris or Monaco, TheVoice discovered peace and tranquillity.
As this reporter and five others discovered recently, via Easyjetairline and the Maison de France, Alsace in Eastern France is aworld where visitors can indulge their love of wine, food,relaxation and nature.

There, a visitor can explore, by car, the best of several worldsbecause Alsaces French history is also influenced by its closenessto Germany, which once owned it, Luxembourg, Switzerland andBelgium.

Four days in the region reveals several delights. Castles dot thesky, harking back to Alsaces medieval glory. Excellent food andover 80 cheese varieties from restaurants such as LAtelier duSommelier, also keep the tummy vibrant.


Grapevines also thrive on rolling green hillsides before going onto yield superb wines along Alsaces 170 kilometre wine route.Alsace has 38 vineyard trails and there is ample opportunity tosample wines made from the regions seven grape varieties.

Only one per cent of the population works in the wine industrywhereas 99 per cent drink it! quips David Huck, a representativefrom Domaine Klipfel in Barr, one of Alsaces largest vineyards.

He tells the group that it takes eight to ten years training tobecome a winer and that wine is a family thing. The winers who arelucky are the ones who are working in later generations  third orfourth generation or more.
With its 40 hectares of land, Klipfel has wines dating back to 1921and has a cellar stocking up to 1 million bottles of wine. As hepours us wine, Huck explains there are wines in the region that areeven older.
The city of Strasbourg has a barrel with the oldest wine in theworld dating back to 1492, Huck says.

Klipfels wine museum also gives us a chance to see old wine makingtools. But not all tools are out of use. Huck shows us large,wooden wine storing barrels that are still in use after 200 years.

If food and wine tasting are not enough, there are also ways tofeed the soul and the mind. Just two hours away from Basle-Mulhouse airport in Switzerland is an oasis.

Surrounded by the lush forest of the UNESCO protected north Vosgesregional park and close to the small town of La Petite-Pierre isHotel La Clariere, Frances first organic hotel.

With its wooden walls and floors, understated elegance and varietyof spa treatments, Hotel La Clairiere, is calming from the momentone enters  a spot to rejuvenate the spirit or heighten romance.
As warm hands stroke away tension with a massage or a mud wrap orbody scrub, visitors can enjoy piped music and the sweet smell ofcitrus and spices, which waft throughout the building. It is also aplace where the sounds and smells of nature and the lack of noisewrap around you like a blanket.
Thirty-year-old co-owner Liz Strohmenger tells us that holidaymakers and business clients are attracted to the 50-room hotel andits spa because:
It is the middle of a natural park. People like it because it isin a more secluded place. We also use only organic products.Everything we use, from breakfast to dinner to the spa is organic,she says.
Spa treatment is a growing industry in Alsace, catering todifferent tastes.
*Hotel Les Violettes in Jungholtz also offers a relaxing holiday tovisitors who want to do nature walks, be cocooned in soothing quietor make use of facilities such as its five themed saunas.


Jungholtz also holds a stunning secret  the Notre Dame deThierenbach, a Catholic church with elaborate gold ornaments, altarand paintings, gifts from those who came there on pilgrimages inthe past. Its walls also hold drawings showing how the town wasbadly bombed during the World wars, during which the church actedas a haven for locals.
But there is also a spa for visitors who want to be close to a towncentre. Les Source de Sens in Morsbronn-les-Bains offers 17spacious rooms, spa treatments such as the aromatic body massageand wellbeing exercises.
Pierre Weller, the owner, tells us the spa, only 40 minutes fromStrasbourg or Baden Baden airports, also offers cooking classes, abuzzing restaurant and arranged sight seeing tours for longer termguests.
Once rejuvenated, visitors have much more to see. Quaint houses sitin picturesque towns such as Betschdorf village. There, skilledcraftsmen make excellent pottery and tasty gingerbread.
In some villages, houses date back to before the 19th century, asseen by dates scrawled on the walls. Our tour guide tell us thatlocals follow traditions of painting the year the house was builtand the names of the original bride and groom on the right handcorner of the outer front walls.


Many of the villages are also bordered by nature and in severalplaces in Alsace, you can find more forests and gardens. Twospectacular places catch our eye. The first is Le Ferme Bleuegarden in Uttenhoffen gets its name from the blue coloured 16thcentury farm buildings located on the property.
This type of blue is made locally, says co-owner, Alain Souliere.In the old days everything was painted blue including theceiling.
Started 12 years ago, Le Ferme bleue has themed garden that comesalive in riotous colours from May to September. A few years ago,Souliere and his business partner added a tea room, which nowserves a great buffet and wine before taking visitors on a tour ofthe garden. Souliere says he and co-owner, Jean Paul, who alsodesigned the garden, grow many of the vegetables served at themeals. They still have dreams for the garden. We wanted to have amostly blue flower but not much success, Souliere says. But thatis always possible.
Just a few hours away is another delightful green space Wesserling Park.
The 42 hectare park is a reminder - to those of us who grew up inrural communities - of the joys of exploring. It has four permanentgardens and a textile museum. The museum, with its textile art anddisplays, is a unique reminder of the former Royal Wesserlingfactory and the recently reawakened textile industry in Alsace.
But the former factory also has a secret. It was built in 1762 andfor over a century, thrived on producing textile made from cottonshipped from India, South America, Africa and the United States atthe height of slavery. It printed cotton until 2003 but now we aredoing synthetic cotton, says Eric Jacob, director of WesserlingPark.
But dark past aside, the Park has much to offer. In the summer, thepark hosts the "Festival des Jardins M