The beautiful French village so pretty it inspired a world famous artist

Giverny, in France, is home to Claude Monet’s famous house and gardens, which are the real-life representation of his art.

The grounds, restored in the late 1970s, were the artist's private sanctuary from 1883 to 1926. 

The gardens are breathtaking and extremely well-kept. It is easy to get to the grounds by car and train. If travelling by train, you can go from Paris Gare Saint-Lazare to Vernon-Giverny.

Monet lived in the house for a total of 43 years and many of his artworks were inspired by the gardens around him.

The water lily pond is the most well-known area of the gardens - the pond was created by Monet due to his love for capturing how light and clouds reflected on the water. Monet had a Japanese bridge built in his garden, which inspired his works.

A wide variety of plants were also added to the area such as bamboo, maple, Japanese tree peonies and lilies which frame the pond.

Today, you can see one of Monet’s most famous paintings, ‘Water Lilies’ at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris.

You can book a guided tour of the house and gardens. One enthusiastic visitor recalled their trip writing on Tripadvisor: “This was a fabulous guided tour today. We loved the narration which was informative and funny, it really brought the Monet story to life! It’s a beautiful place, a great way of seeing Giverny and Monet's house. Thoroughly enjoyed the day.”

While in Giverny, there are lots of other things you can do and places you can see.

The village can be reached easily from both Normandy and Paris if you are planning to add a stop there to your trip. 

You can also visit the Musée des Impressionnismes, which is dedicated to Monet and features his works and those of other famous impressionist artists.