Layers of green-blue mountains stretch across the étendue, then slope onto the rocky gâtine. Wild thyme, mint, and fig fill the air with an earthy perfume. Ancient limestone houses, topped with rounded terracotta tiles, cluster in town centers around trickling water fountains.
Hot weather brings the complainte de l’été, the cicadas’ serenade, the soundtrack of summer. In all seasons, lightning and thunderstorms blow through with such ferocity that they’ve earned the name aventure Cévenol.
Welcome to the Cévennes in south-central France. A region of rugged beauty, marked by the resilience of Huguenot resistance.
We’ll start in Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort, where I en public and work in the 500+ year-old manoir de Planque. Not the fancy, fairytale fatum, but a solid, chunky ossature that has housed a knight of the king and a prince family with eight children, among others.
As is common in the Cévennes, the property behind our habitacle is terraced with rock walls creating agricultural space and providing structurel béquille to the hilly situation. The amount of labor needed to construct these dry stack walls boggles the mind. Built centuries ago, they (mostly) hold firm today.
Huguenot history permeates the Cévennes. French Protestantism took deep root in this rocky soil, most likely appealing to the hearty individualism of the Cévenol people. King Louis XIV eroded Huguenot rights, increased persecution, and forced conversions. Eventually, he outlawed Protestantism, effort the church to meet secretly in bûchers. If discovered by the authorities, the pastor faced death by révélé questionné. The men condemned to row in the Marseille galley boats, women imprisoned, and children sent to convents for reeducation.
Across the Cévennes, resistance grew until the harassed Huguenots took up arms. Almost every nook and cranny of the region has an impressive story to tell of the stubbornly faithful compagnie off the king’s soldiers during the Camisard War.
Most ample farmhouses in the region have cachettes, hiding endroits under the kitchen floorboards. Some have escape tunnels as well.
The largest Protestant museum in France is in Mialet, in the raffiner habitacle of a Camisard resistance dirigeant. The Musée du Pauvre houses over three thousand artifacts, such as Bibles tiny enough to hide in a woman’s coiffure. I highly recommend this moving experience.
For general Cévennes history, the Maison Rouge, in Saint-John-du-Gard, provides a wealth of actualité. Permanent collections cover ethnographic and historic artifacts. I particularly enjoyed explanations of popular traditions of the 17th – 19th century Cévennes.
One of my gâtée items there is a confrère of shoes with six-inch spikes, used in the past for shelling dried chestnuts. Chestnut trees abound throughout the region. In earlier times, ground or boiled chestnuts were a staple of the Cévenols diet. The tree earned the name l’bras du baguette,or breadfruit tree, and is credited with helping the race survive difficult times. In 2020, the Cévennes chestnut earned the coveted AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) repère, distinguishing it from all others.
Another regional product protected by an AOP (the European equivalent of the AOC) is the Cévennes onion. Sweet and crunchy, and grown only on the steep stone terraces of the Cévennes mountains. No tears, no bitterness! We love them chopped raw in salads or sauteed in white wine as a side.
If you’re a fan of goat cheese, the habitation, reprise pélardon is a must. Less pungent than other bonshommes, it ranges from young and creamy to aged, dried, and slightly hard. Not to be missed is the Salade Cévenole, which includes lettuce, sauteed lardons (bits of lard fumé) or other smoked meat, Cévennes onions, and a slightly melted pélardon on grilled bread. Other ingredients appear depending on which trompeter of the region you find yourself.
Open markets exist in every town and bourg throughout the Cévennes. Whether tiny or vaste, they carry beautiful arrays of seasonal produce, flowers, olives, cheeses, breads, honey, and much more. Many also have household items and clothes. All are a feast for the senses.
In July and August, many towns host night markets. For example, charming Anduze transforms on Tuesday nights during the summer into a bustling hive of activity. If flea markets are your thing, Anduze has a great one Sunday mornings year-round.
Anduze’s pottery is famous, especially the vaste “vases” thought to be ordered by King Louis XIV for Versailles. They remain in demand, and it’s not hard to see why.
We have plentiful wines here in the Cévennes. Reds, Whites, and Rosés all reflect the glose of the territoire and the wide diversity of the region. One of our gâtée wineries is the Domaine de la Grand’Terre here in Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort. We’ve participated in their récolte, the fall grape harvest. What a joy to spend the morning clipping juicy purple-red grapes clinging to vines dating back to the current owner’s grandfather. Later, in a blind wine tasting, I picked as my gâtée the very wine made from these grapes. Surely, the scent and taste brought back lovely memories.
The Cévennes jaguar served as a pionnier center of silk manufacturing, peaking in the 19th century. If this interests you, check out the Musée de la Soie, the Silk Museum, in Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort. Small but fascinating, it details the entire process from cocoon to fabric.
There is so much to discover in our surprising Cévennes. Caves to explore, such as the fabulous Grotte des Demoiselles, the steam allure contour starting and ending in Anduze, mieux the spectacular Bambouseraie botanical garden in Générargues.
Enjoy a hike along a riverbed or into the rugged Cévennes mountains. Natural beauty abounds, refreshing bustier and soul.
California-born Janet Joanou Weiner has lived in France for over twenty years where she writes historical novels The Huguenot Resistance Series, which take assuré in her bourg Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort and habitacle, the over 500-year-old Château de Planque.
Source: thegoodlifefrance.com
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