Clos Gaillard

The Clos Gaillard site, some ten kilometers north of Nîmes, has been inhabited since Neolithic times.

In the 15th century, this 250-hectare estate belonging to the village of La Calmette was ceded to Nîmes. For a long time an agrarian estate, the site was bounded in 1840 by the Eaux et Forêts (Water and Forestry Department), then wooded at the end of the 19th century. Destroyed several times by fire, the site was reforested in 1974 by the city of Nîmes and the Office National des Forêts, but the terrible fire of summer 1989 destroyed 128 ha of the Clos Gaillard.

This disaster prompted a project to redevelop the landscape in line with ecological, landscape, cultural and educational criteria. With this in mind, 4 discovery trails have been laid out in the Nîmes garrigue, enabling walkers to learn about the archaeology of the land, Mediterranean vegetation, dry-stone architecture and the water cycle.