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Twelve kilometres from St-Jean in the direction of Anduze, PRAFRANCE has an extraordinary and very appealing garden consisting exclusively of bamboos of all shapes and sizes: La Bambouseraie (March to mid-Nov daily 9.30am-6pm; 35F/4.88), the result of its creator's pet passion. An easy way to get here is to take the steam train from St Jean du Gard; it just takes ten minutes. If you want to leave the area by mainline train, the place to head for is ALES on the Nimes-Paris line. This was a major coal-mining centre, though 25,000 jobs have been lost and all but two opencast pits closed in the last thirty-odd years. Today, it has a superb museum on the history and techniques of coal-mining, known as the Mine Temoin , in the underground workings of a disused mine on chemin de la Cite Ste-Marie in the Rochebelle district (tours daily: April, May & Sept to mid-Nov 9am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm; June-Aug 10am-7pm; 38F/5.79; last visit one and a half hours before closing). Tours conducted in English run on Wednesdays between 2 and 5pm during July and August.
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