Etretat Gardens, Neo-futuristic garden on Alabaster Coast cliffs, Normandy, France

Etretat Gardens is a contemporary garden on the Alabaster Coast of Normandy, stretching across multiple terraced levels with sculpted shrubs and artistic installations throughout. The grounds offer views of the English Channel and the surrounding cliff formations from several viewpoints.

In 1903 Parisian actress Madame Thébault began a garden on the Amont cliff, where Claude Monet had painted between 1883 and 1885. Gardener Auguste Lecanu of Fécamp laid it out, and architect Louis Valentin designed her Neo-Norman villa, La Roxelane, with a half-timbered facade and flint detailing. After her death the villa changed owners; in 2014 Alexander Grivko and Mark Dumas acquired it, restored the garden from 2015, and opened it to the public in May 2017.

The garden is divided into seven themed parts, among them Jardin Avatar, Jardin Impressions, Jardin Zen and Jardin La Manche, all drawing on Normandy's history and landscapes. The villa at its centre is named La Roxelane after Hurrem Sultan, the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, a role that made actress Madame Thébault famous. Temporary large-scale works by artists in residence join the permanent sculptures.

Visitors can walk approximately 2 kilometers of gravel pathways that connect different sections, with information panels explaining the botanical and artistic elements along the way. The terrain is generally manageable on foot with several resting areas available.

A dedicated garden section features rubber sculptures by Samuel Salcedo depicting human faces positioned alongside shrubs shaped like shells from an 18th-century oyster farm. This unexpected combination of contemporary sculpture and historical reference creates a distinctive artistic moment.