Renowned for the thousands of flowers that display its streets, the village of Gerberoy, in the Oise, has a strong attractiveness between the end of spring and the beginning of summer, to the point of sometimes penalizing its inhabitants.
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During the long summer holidays, some opt for seaside resorts or exotic destinations, when others turn to small French villages, to rest or flee the crowd. Except that these municipalities, especially when they are labeled among “The most beautiful villages in France “, often find themselves overwhelmed by the influx of visitors. This is the case of the commune of Gerberoy, in the Oise, labeled for 50 years and which has more than 120,000 tourists per year for only 104 inhabitants.
Here, thousands of flowers cover the facades, along small paved paths, houses with colorful shutters. A landscape that brings, with it, its share of tourists, like Yvette: “I’m not going to say that we do them all, but when we are in a region that has them, we stop and we do it automatically”she recognizes.
She has so far come in a motorhome with her husband, and travels the small village on foot like dozens of other visitors. An incessant flow that tires Hervé, a resident of the main street: “It brings us more inconvenience than advantages. And that is still a bit of a shame.”
“There are weekends where really, we are happy to see Monday morning arriving, because there are too many people.”
Hervé, resident of Gerberoyin franceinfo
Among the inconvenience, there are cars that park anywhere, noise pollution or flower flights. And that has worsens for ten years, according to him. He is sorry to see his “Small paradise” be polluted. “We don’t want to lose it, we want to keep it.”
In total, nearly 120,000 people visited the village last year, 40,000 more than ten years ago. The most intense period is between May and June, explains Delphine, who has lived here since childhood and has taken over her parents’ restaurant. She has observed for years “A little unmanageable human flow”especially in his establishment. “We have trouble running. We are three in service, these are very very long days because there are a lot of people and people are waiting.”
In an attempt to regulate the number of tourists, the mayor Pierre Chavonnet wishes to make the reservation of the parking lot of the city compulsory. According to him, this would keep a good visit experience, “Avoid weekends where there are too many people in Gerberoy” And to find yourself in difficulty to welcome tourists. “Whether for public toilets, whether for the trash cans, when there are too many people, they are full of middayexplains the elected official. We are not equipped to clean Gerberoy during these weekends. “
Ultimately, the mayor would also like to make parking paying so that tourists contribute more to the finances of the town.
