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The
Cévennes is a wonderful area for outdoor activities
such as walking, cycling and horse-riding. (It has
also become popular for travelling accompanied by a
donkey, in emulation of Robert Louis Stevenson.)
There are many marked footpaths, tracks and trails, and
you can hire equipment (or your animal of choice)
locally. The local rivers are lovely to swim in and
you can also fish - permits are available from a shop in
the village (though Alex did not have one for his early
efforts pictured here). There are tennis courts in
le Collet de Dèze and table tennis and table football at
Le Vieux Mas. In the summer there are many other
activities and attractions, such as Forest
parc a tree-top "parcours".
Some of the local villages still have
a certain severity about them, but numerous museums such
as the Musée du Désert record the complex
history of the area, and there are some working museums
such as the Maison de la Châtaigne.
There is lots of very detailed information on all this
at the house.
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Collet
de Dèze is a busy village, with a post office, a
couple of bars and restaurants, a bakers and various other
shops including a small supermarket which sells a fair
amount of local produce. There is no need to go
further to shop, although we generally do a big weekly
shop in Alès (about 40 minutes away), which
has banks, hypermarkets and all the facilities of a busy
town. Florac (pictured, and also about 40
minutes) is a smaller town at the head of the Gorges du
Tarn, and an attractive place with an attractive market
selling local produce. There are many other markets
of varying kinds within striking distance of the
house.
There are restaurants
scattered across the area, from historic droving
inns to Michelin starred restaurants,
with some good-value places locally.
In the wider area of the
Cévennes, Causses and Gorges, there is more fine
walking, canoe trips to be made on the rivers,
prehistoric sites to visit, as well as some of France's
finest caves. The nature is
wonderful, with many wild flowers in spring (including
endemics) and good birdwatching. There is more
about much of this on the Cévennes National Park website.
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Le
Vieux Mas is also close to some of France's most
interesting and historic towns and sites, and the
coast. Arles, where Van Gogh painted his
most famous works, has a fine Roman amphitheatre. Avignon
is a chic southern town with the papal palace (pictured)
well worth a visit. Montpellier, another gracious
city, has one of the best art galleries outside Paris. Nîmes
our nearest city, has a well preserved Roman Temple and
an attractive car-free centre. Pont
du Gard is world famous, another World Heritage
site, and needs no introduction. Uzès
is another attractive town with one of the best markets
in the region. Many of the smaller towns are worth
exploring too: for example Vézénobres
(just beyond Alès) is an attractive medieval hill town
which is the French fig capital with a festival of figs
each October.
For a contrast, the Camargue
is also within easy reach. A still-fantastic
wetland, you would not want to stay there, but it is
within easy reach of Le Vieux Mas.
In fact all these places are
between a 1 and 2 hours drive and so easy day
trips.
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