Sorting through my past photos I came across some that reminded me of a visit we made to the quaint old French town of La Gacilly in Brittany. The town is unusual in that it is surrounded by what the locals call "Jardin Botanique". However, they are not gardens but fields filled with flowers and herbs. La Gacilly is where Yves Rocher was born and in the late 1950s became their Mayor. He was particularly concerned that youngsters were having to flee the town in order to find work, and decided that he would have to establish a business. A local healer had taught him a recipe for an ointment based on the Lesser celandine - Focaria verna which he decided could be sold by mail order using adverts in the magazine "Ici Paris" - thus began his now worldwide empire.
