La Vallée Heureuse, Le Brûlé

At an altitude of almost 1000 metres, in a part of St Denis known as Le Brûlé, you can find La Vallée Heureuse, a beautiful 6500m2 19th-century garden inscribed as a French Monument Historique (National Heritage Site).

entrance, La Vallée Heureuse 

The owner, Pascale Boyer-Vidal, inherited the garden from her grandfather, and she organises visits twice a month. 

La Vallée Heureuse literally means the 'Happy Valley'. 

tree ferns

Pascale is passionate about the garden in particular and nature in general and this really shines through during the visit.

grapefruit tree leaves, note the two parts (small then large)

The garden consists of three different parts: a semicircular 'pleasure' garden with azaleas, camellias, hydrangeas and tea bushes; a 'practical' garden with bamboo, fruit trees and other useful plants; and an endemic garden with indigenous and endemic vegetation typical of that found in a mid-altitude forest.

footbridge in the pleasure garden

pond in the pleasure garden

azalea flower

path, pleasure garden

Throughout the visit emphasis is placed on nature, including the observation of birds and endemic insects. Pascale explains how she fights erosion and tries to restore the environment, and how she obtains endemic species to replant.

this species of yellow bamboo looks as if
someone threw a pot of green paint at it!

Pascale standing next to some (aptly-named) giant bamboo

toadstools growing at the foot of the giant bamboo

toadstool growing on a tree

The garden also has several Ginkgo bilobas, a tree that my husband and I got used to seeing when we lived in Seoul. Ginkgos are a very unusual genus of non-flowering plants that first appeared on earth 250 million years ago; Ginkgo bilobas are the only species of the genus left and are considered living fossils. They adapt well to urban environments, as they tolerate pollution and confined soil spaces. They rarely suffer disease problems, even in urban conditions, and are attacked by few insects. For all these reasons, as well as for their general beauty, they are excellent urban and shade trees, and are widely planted along many streets in Asia.

 gingko tree leaves

camphor tree

unusually on this species of plant the flower grows directly from the stem

Jambrosades originated in South-East Asia but are commonly found in Reunion, having been introduced as fruit and ornamental trees. They are also known as 'rose apple', 'water apple' or 'plum rose' in English. As a non-native species they are currently present in the garden to provide shade, and will be chopped down once the endemic plants they are shading reach adulthood.

jambrosade flower 

camellia flower

The visit lasts for about two hours, and afterwards you can share a cup of tea with Pascale and taste some of her delicious home-made jam (ambarella, Costa Rican guava …).

passion fruit flower

Practical information:

If you read or understand French take a look at the Vallée Heureuse Facebook Page which has beautiful photos and also contains some practical information about visits. Pascale also makes some handicrafts, which you can see here.

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Saint Denis Mosque

Saint Denis' mosque has its origins in 1892, when six Gujarati tradesmen bought a building at 111 rue du Grand Chemin for religious purposes. At that time about 130 Gujaratis (called z'arabes locally) had settled in Reunion over the previous 20 years.

the minaret of St Denis mosque

In 1897 a request was made to build a mosque, and authorisation was granted the following year by Governor Beauchamp. As the muslim community was small it took seven years to build the edifice, located on the same street as the previous building, now called rue Maréchal-Leclerc. The Noor-E-Islam mosque, covering an area of 720m2, was officially inaugurated on 28th November 1905. Its name means "light of Islam" in Arabic, and until Mayotte became a French department in 2011 it was France's oldest mosque.

the minaret is 32 metres high

On 12th October 1974 fire in a neighbouring building destroyed some of the wooden structures surrounding the mosque, but the courtyard and prayer hall were untouched. Following this a gallery of shops was built to replace the wooden buildings, and rue Maréchal Leclerc became the busy shopping street it is now. Today Reunion is home to about 50 000 Muslims, and there are around forty different religious buildings specific to Islam in Reunion; some of them are Shi’ite but most are Sunni.

the mosque is located in a busy shopping street

The Noor-E-Islam mosque can be visited all year round (dress respectfully and be prepared to take off your shoes inside), but I visited it this year as part of the Heritage Open Days (non-Muslims are allowed into mosques, as long as they do not sleep or eat there). The entrance is sheltered behind a series of columns, and when you enter the courtyard (sahn) you are immediately struck by the tranquil atmosphere after the bustle outside. 

part of the mosque courtyard

Located close to the entrance is the ablutions area, as ritual purification must precede all prayers.

ablution area

After the courtyard is the prayer hall (djamat khana), which has capacity for 500. The mosque's interior design is classic, and predominantly white and green. When you enter the prayer hall immediately opposite you is the mihrab, a semicircular niche that indicates the direction of Mecca (qibla) i.e. the direction that Muslims should face when praying. To the right of the mihrab is the minbar, the pulpit where the prayer leader (imam) delivers sermons.

 

mihrab and minbar in the prayer hall

prayer hall windows

framed Koranic verse

framed Koranic surat (chapter )

The mosque is easily identifiable by its 32-metre high white minaret topped with a dome designed to withstand cyclones. 

The minaret was built as part of the 1975-1978 restoration work following the fire in 1974. It is decorated with jalis, perforated marble screen decorations.

Minaret dome

Having visited mosques all over Asia, I'm pleased that after more than 20 years in Reunion I finally got round to visiting this beautiful mosque so close to home! 

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Chateau Lauratet

During the Heritage Open Days 2013 (Journées du Patrimoine) we visited Chateau Lauratet, in Reunion's capital, Saint Denis.

Chateau Lauratet, Saint Denis

I had often noticed this elegant period building located at number 44, rue Alexis de Villeneuve, and was glad to be able to visit it at last.

looking back over the front garden from the house terrace

It's currently home to the Chambre Régionale des Comptes de la Réunion (the Regional Audit Chamber for Reunion), and while most of the Chamber's offices are located in a modern building built in 1987 (just visible to the right in the top photo), the Creole house holds the Chamber President's offices and personal living quarters, surrounded by 2600m2 of garden.

Audit Chamber display inside Chateau Lauratet

On 8th February 1787 Jean-Baptiste Lecolier sold Jean-Joseph Pajot a large piece of land with a house. Pajot lived here with his wife Ursule Lagourgue and their nine children. The main part of the house, including the three French windows at the front, date from this period. The property remained in the Pajot family until 1861, and eventually in 1876 it was acquired by Anaïs Lauratet, wife of a prosperous merchant.

inside the house

The Lauratet couple modernised the house, taking their inspiration from an architectural style introduced to the island in the 1840s and visible at what is now the Leon Dierx Museum in the nearby Rue de Paris (built 1842-1843), and Chateau Morange, a larger but similar building somewhat further away (built 1853-1860). The Lauratets had the imposing entrance built as well as the unique wrought-iron gate, and added balustrades and other decorative elements such as the roof-top decorative Medici vases which are also unique to Chateau Lauratet. The architect was Mr Chatel, who came to Reunion to build Saint Denis' Town Hall, and it is said that the work was carried out by labourers who had come to Reunion to build the railway.

back of the house

Anaïs Lauratet died in the house in 1896, and in 1910 it was put up for sale. In 1917 it was sold to Augustine Kerveguen (née Villèle), before being sold in 1926 to the Cazal family, local printers, who bequeathed it to the nation on October 23rd 1984. It was then assigned to the Regional Audit Chamber.

custard apples growing in the garden

The garden holds several magnificent trees, including a strawberry guava (goyavier) with an unusually large trunk and a custard apple tree.

strawberry guava with an unusually large trunk

cocoa fruit on a tree in the garden

Unless you're in Saint Denis during the annual Heritage Open Days, held every September, you may not be able to visit Chateau Lauratet, but at least now you'll know what the building is and a little bit about its history!

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