There is a garden in Menton high up on the hill overlooking the Mediterranean. Its name is Val Rahmeh, an extraordinary botanical garden, one of many remarkable gardens in Menton. In the late nineteenth century, the de Monléons, a noble French family of Italian descent, purchased the mas-style farmhouse surrounded by fig trees and vineyards. On the west side were terraced fields of wheat. The valley side was a vegetable garden and orchard and at the back was a century-old olive garden.
The property was later acquired by British general, Sir Percy Pollexfen de Blaquiere Radcliffe between 1905 and 1906. He had fallen in love with the Menton region. In 1918, he married Rahmeh Theodora Swinburne after serving in World War I. Acquiring more property, Radcliffe had it turned into a pleasure garden dedicated to Mediterranean species. It’s described as a natural amphitheatre that is open to the sea and sheltered by the Alpes-Maritimes.
Architect, Frédéric, was entrusted by Radcliffe to design a villa in 1925 to be in the Italian Provençal style integrating the old farmhouse. The east wing was added as an outbuilding for guests and household staff with Radcliffe’s office upstairs. Sadly, his wife died in 1924. In her memory, he named the property Val Rahmeh (Valley of Tranquility)…Rahmeh meaning tranquility in Arabic. The same architect extended the villa in 1927. Along the new road at the bottom of the wall Radcliffe had a dozen Canary Island date palms planted along the new road…now the main entrance. Collecting exotic plants for gardens was very popular. English botanical enthusiasts were changing the landscape of Menton and the French Riviera, planting “ornamental and acclimatisation gardens.”
Until 1957, ownership of the property would change. Lawrence Johnston was one of the new owners. He created another exotic garden just before World War II in Menton. He named it, La Serre de la Madone. I wrote about this beautiful garden for Classic Chicago Magazine in 2018. The last private owner of Val Rahmeh was Miss May Sherwood Campbell, (1903-1982), a wealthy, eccentric Englishwoman…and a botanist. Her emphasis was introducing the acclimatisation of exotic plants with color and scent enchanting her guests at her lavish receptions. She renamed the villa, la Casa Rosa and enlarged the estate that included the tennis courts of Chalet des Rosiers, famous for having been the summer residence of Queen Victoria in 1882. Miss Campbell was nicknamed, “Lady of the Daturas”, having set her sight on acquiring the South American genus Brugmansia. Clearly, her enthusiasm for purchasing and exchanging of plants had grown, collecting rare and spectacular species from all continents. In 1966, she was forced to sell the villa and a large part of the land and “retreat to a small plot of high land at the back of her former estate.”
The French Ministry of Education acquired the property and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle took over the management. They made the site safe and accessible and created the basin in the lower part where you’ll find the fabulous Indian lotus papyrus water lilies and a perfectly wonderful view of the sea. The botanical garden was opened to the public in 1967. It’s quite a long walk, uphill, from the road along the sea, so that is a consideration, but there is parking along the road if you drive. However you get to Jardin Botanique Val Rahmeh, by car or by foot, it’s a garden you’ll long remember.
