It’s more than 160 years since the first shoots of this rambling, mature bamboo grove were planted by a spice merchant returning from the tropics. Here in Générargues, 12km southwest of Alès, 150 bamboo species as well as oak and maple trees sprout amid aquatic gardens, a Laotian village and a Japanese garden. The Cévennes steam train, Train à Vapeur des Cévennes, stops here.