Beaumont Park, Pau

July 1, 2022
Discovery of the old town of Pau Hotel Bristol Pau

History of Beaumont Park

 

The Bristol Pau Hotel is a 10-minute walk from the Beaumont Park and its history.

Constituting a former seigneury, the estate is the property of M. Batsalle, deputy mayor under the First Empire. 

The latter quickly sold his property, namely a villa and 11 hectares of parkland, to Mr Briffault who in turn sold it to the Count of Beaumont in 1834. In 1876, Aristide de Monpezat, mayor at the time, had a public utility enquiry carried out with a view to buying the park. 

In 1878, after signing a deed of sale, the de Beaumont family disposed of a large part of the park, which was then redeveloped and provided with numerous carriageways. In the 1890s, the remains of the estate were inherited by the poet Anna de Noailles, who, as she rarely lived there, made her villa and the remains of her gardens available to rich tourists, and then rented it briefly to the town, which installed a library and a museum housing collections of paintings and natural sciences.

The countess, preferring the countryside of Agen to life in Palaiseau, nevertheless quickly sold the villa to the municipality for the sum of 800,000 francs, then it was demolished in 1895, and replaced by the winter palace built between 1895 and 1899, and inaugurated in 1900. 

At the beginning of the 1900s, a festival day was being prepared. The park was then completely redesigned in 1898, in an English style by the landscape architect Henri Martinet, notably by the creation of an artificial pond and its island, streams and their false rockeries made of reinforced concrete, as well as the waterfalls and bridges.

 

Beaumont Park

 

From its paths that converge towards the bandstand to its bald cypress lake, Beaumont Park is home to beautiful trees, many of which are over a hundred years old: evergreen redwoods from California, Himalayan cedars, araucarias from Argentina and Chile, Judas trees, horse chestnuts from the Balkans and magnolias.

The Pyrenean garden is reminiscent of the mountains, with its rocks, perennials and streams. Nearby, on the southern slope, the Théâtre de Verdure hosts shows in summer.

In order to welcome you, various activities are proposed such as walking, running, cycling, sitting on a bench or on the authorized lawn, all this of course in respect of the barrier gestures.

As far as protection is concerned, the park was classified as a natural site for the first time in its entirety in 1924, then a second time by decree on 16 February 1944 for the green theatre and finally a third time in 1974 for the area around the Beaumont Palace.

Nowadays, the Beaumont Park is still a place of gathering and relaxation for the people of Pau and hosts, in summer, animations and games for children, in particular a small train and an ice cream parlour. Every year, it also hosts part of the music festival in the Théâtre de Verdure, as well as the installations for the Pau Automobile Grand Prix.