The Graves Park in Villerville

THE GRAVES PARK: A GARDEN ON THE CLIFFS

800 meters of footpaths, including one leading directly to the beach, a play area and a gazebo, opening up a beautiful panorama of the coast, allow you to enjoy this space which descends from the top of the 'Black Rock' cliffs to the sea.

Quiet park, classified as "Departmental Natural Area", where we find wild plant species, vestiges of pleasure gardens from the old days, as well as recent plantations and ponds. The "Hôtel des Graves" now houses ducks and moorhens. The Park is also home to six goats, known as ditch goats, nicknamed the "bramble-eaters" for their ability to swallow all kinds of plants. Their objective: to clear the entire surface and stop the proliferation of brambles and invasive plants on the site. More recently, five Warré hives, inhabited by black bees from Calvados, have been installed in the park in order to participate in their repopulation.

Sensitive natural area, the coast of Villerville has long been marked by landslides from cliffs which spread blocks of rocks on the beach, thus forming the whole identity of this unique natural place. Its name comes from the Celtic name "grava" which means stone.

There is a remarkable flora there: rare plant species (the maritime crambe, the Montpellier polypogon, the foul-eyed hellebore) and wild, vestiges of pleasure gardens from the old days, as well as recent plantations and ponds.


Before being a nature reserve, the Parc des Graves was a place of dwellings for about fifteen houses. In 1982 a major landslide forced the inhabitants to evacuate the premises.


Calvados Attractiveness & InDeauville