Candie Gardens

The gardens were originally those of Candie House, and became a public park in 1894.[1]

Victor Hugo statue in Candie Gardens

The Upper Gardens feature panoramic views over the islands of Herm and Sark.[1] Two statues of note within the Upper Gardens are those of Queen Victoria and Victor Hugo.[1] The statue of Victoria was erected in 1900 to mark her Diamond Jubilee; it was cast in bronze by C B Birch and is a replica of those in Aberdeen and the Thames Embankment,[1] and was cast by the same foundry, Hollingshead & Burton of Thames Ditton.[2] The statue of Hugo was erected in 1914, and was a gift of the French Government as thanks for the hospitality shown towards the writer during his exile on Guernsey.[1] It was sculpted by Jean Boucher from stone, mounted on a limestone base, which, in turn, sits on a block of Jaonneuse granite.[3]

The former Candie House is now the Priaulx Library.[1][4] The Upper Gardens also feature the Guernsey Museum and an adjacent café, in the former bandstand.[1] The museum was established in 1978, replacing the former Pavilion, at which The Beatles played in 1963.[5]

The Lower Gardens feature a rare surviving example of a Victorian Public Flower Garden, which was restored in 1998-99.[1] There are also two surviving greenhouses in the Lower Gardens, both dating from 1792 and 1793.[1][6]