Near Anduze is the Bambouserie de Prafrance, a really unusual botanical garden, which is well worth seeing. Its thiry four acres contain a ten hectare bamboo forest with more than twenty different varieties, from those you can eat to those you can build houses with, as well as many other trees and plants brought from the Far East. It was created more than a hundred years ago and has thrived on the area's warm micro-climate.

Trips on old railway line between Anduze and St Jean-du-Gard using an old steam engine, which belches out huge clouds of black smoke as it puffs its way slowly across viaducts and through tunnels following the river valley, run from May to September. Saint Jean du Gard has an aquarium which is fun for both children and adults.

Uzès (50 kms), is a pretty Provençal medieval village and a great favourite with writers and artists. It has several music and dance festivals through the summer and a wonderful market on Saturday mornings, cafes, restaurants and a 9-hole golf course. Vézénobres is another worth seeing.

Nîmes has an 18-hole golf course and a range of shops and restaurants. The city has some excellent museums and a well preserved Roman amphitheatre, not as large as the one in Arles, but still used for mock gladiator fights, chariot races and sporting events. Try to see the ornamental 18th century gardens in the quai de la Fontaine, which also contains a ruined Temple of Diana. The Tour Magne nearby, an octagonal watchtower built in the 1st century, has wonderful views from the top.

The beaches on the Mediterranean are about an hour from here.