The Rhone Shore
Historically a passageway, the Shore is this "imperial valley" where man has always made an alliance with the river. But what remains today of this impetuous Rhône, of these intrepid boatmen, “water beaters” moving from “decision” to “upstream” between “Empi” (Dauphiné - left bank) and “Riaume” ( Vivarais - right bank)?
The dams tamed the river, the railroad ruined the crews. From Serrieres, deprived of its sailors, to Bourg-Saint-Andéol, the valley of fruits extends: cherry trees, apricot trees, peach trees, apple trees, pear trees… where the vines also face the famous Hermitage -Saint slopes -Peray, Cornas… and the appellation “Cote du Rhône” extends widely to the south, as far as Bourg.
The Bas-Vivarais
Dazzling with limestone in the southern light, here we are in the area all chipped with stones and dolmens, enamelled with scrubland and holm oaks, that a river as astonishing as fiery has marked with an indelible seal, the Ardèche, symbolizing the whole department alone. Its capricious waters have pierced the prodigious arch of the Pont-d'Arc, cracked and excavated countless caves and sinkholes that are named Saint Marcel, La Cocalière, Orgnac, Marzal, La Forestière, La Madeleine, underground cathedrals of incredible splendor.
The Ardèche, but also the Beaume, the Ibie, the Chassezac. Here, the wood of P aïolive, a ruiniform landscape of limestone and greenery where the rocks take on the appearance of monsters and giants.
Everywhere sun-crushed villages.
On the "fat", lavender and olive trees compete for arable land with vines, the pride of the peasant since it relegated silk and silkworms to the rank of memories. A page is turned. And if it is very difficult to reconcile viticulture and tourism, we cannot praise one and vilify the other but, on the contrary, improve both
The Cévenne
It is the most severe and harsh country in the whole department. Land of "greenhouses" ragged and ravaged by torrential rains which, in spring and autumn, transform the tumbling rivers of the tumultuous Tanague - the mountain of Tonnerre - in stormy and devastating torrent.
A heterogeneous country where granite, schists, mica schists, sandstones and limestones mingle to such an extent that one might think this complexity of building materials leads to a different rural architecture at every turn of the road.
Country where the "Rayol" has built on its slopes fabulous terraces to fix the earth and support vines, crops and homes.
It is the chestnut grove that gives the Cévenne its true face. Associated with sericulture, the chestnut, which reigns supreme here, has been the source of the country's wealth. Both breadfruit and meat tree, for people and their animals, its wood was used to build roof frames, window lintels, its planks for doors and floors.
It is still the chestnut and its architectural translation into the landscape, "the key" - chestnut dryer - that has left its mark on the landscape. So it is true that a house, whatever its plan or the nature of the materials used in its construction, is cévenole only through the presence of this key.
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