IN FRANCE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17155, 4 October 1926, Page 12

IN FRANCE

A NEW ZEALAND GARDEN

I If you wander down a little road from Joue-lps-Tours, in Touraine (writes a I correspondent), you will come to the Chateau Clos St. Victor, a prim frontage, ending in turrets looking out at you from across the sweep of level lawns. And then, if you are a New Zealander and observant, you will set) something oddly familiar, not m the least Old World, about the trees Avhich surrouna the Chateau. For here is a New Zealand garden in France; Matipo you will see 1 , lacebark, and the slcnderness of ti-tree, flax, and white flowering kowhai, the feathery plumes of toi-toi, and the restless leaves of silvev birch. It is thus that Mr. Dormer Knowies, many years absent from his native land, now keeps green his memories of home. When he took over Chateau Clos St. Victor the place was almost a ruin, ivow, with the plants that have been sent to him from these slides he has made one of the most admired spots in Touraine. And here he constitutes himself an active agent for tourist traffic. In a letter to the New Zealand Gpvernment Publicity Department, Mr. Knowies says that he is doing his best to divert tourists from the eternal Riviera to the far shortfe of New Zealand. At the same time he has given some hints that the Department agrees are necessary on the consideration due to tourists. The* rigid meal hours observed in the Dominion, lie says,.are a drawback. In France special provision is made for late-comers and for motorists, and they can obtain most appetising meals and good wines no matter what the hour. Recently Lady Myrtle Jellico e has been visiting Touraine, a'nd with Mr. Knowies has constituted an unofficial committee for the advertisement of New Zealand's beauty spots.