Cyril Roussel, Le jardin aux jouets/The toy garden

pictures in this post courtesy of Melanie Menard, 

weblog Inner Worlds/Outer Space

Gravelines, from old a fortified city and fishing town in the far north of France, near Dunkirk. Offshore, in 1588, the decisive battle of the english against the spanish Armada was fought. Nowadays, the city has a charming old towncentre, a major seaport, extensive industrial areas and a large nuclear plant.

The toy garden

And it has an outsider environment: the Jardin aux jouets, the toy garden. 

It is located in an open area, somewhat outside the community, along a departmental road. The author of this environment, Cyril Roussel, lives there, together with his son, in a mobile home. 

I could find no information about mr Roussel other than that he has worked in a slaughterhouse.

The tourist office of Gravelines  apparently doesn't see much reason in giving publicity to this lively exposition of all kinds of puppets, statues, toys and objets trouvés, some of them painted in bright colors or dressed up in fanciful clothes. Too marginal probably. 

Documentation/more pictures
* post (in english) of Melanie Menard in her weblog Inner Worlds/Outer Space (30-1-2011)
* post (in french) of Jean-Michel Chesné in his weblog (27-10-2010)

* a set of pictures in webzine Extase Coagulée (Facebook, febr 2011)

* a video (4'11" april 2010) by Harry Kampianne on Daily Motion

Cyril Roussel
Jardin aux jouets
Rue du Pont de Pierre
Gravelines, dep Nord, FR
can be visited when the gate is open
(except the part near where the owner lives of course)
streetview