Environment & Transitions · Unusual · Health

Therapeutic garden: when nature heals and builds connections

26 February 2026Photos and text: Élodie Loubat34 images

Jardin thérapeutique : quand la nature soigne et crée du lien

01 / 34 · 26 February 2026Élodie Loubat / Collectif DR

France has a few hundred therapeutic gardens, most of them attached to medical facilities. Open and non-medicalized, the Oréda garden in Cézac, in Haute-Gironde, offers a rare local alternative. The project is run by an association and led by Jean-Charles Paillery, a former market gardener.

Every week, it welcomes caregivers, dependent seniors, people with disabilities or illnesses, and young people from an IME. Inspired by Anglo-Saxon therapeutic gardens, it is a living space where contact with living things is at the heart of practices, promoting physical, mental and social well-being. Each activity is part of a dynamic aimed at awakening the senses, developing motor skills, reviving memory and strengthening bonds. Whether it is maintaining the plantings, building nest boxes, creating sculptures or mosaics, bonsai workshops or a theater performance, participants actively contribute to the life of the place. The garden is also organized according to the principles of permaculture.

Along its shaded paths, this discreet garden becomes a haven of serenity, where everyone regains their smile, confidence and lightness, for a break from an often busy daily life.

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34 images