The countryside around Uzès – where fields of asparagus, cherry orchards, forests of truffle oaks and vineyards alternate with garrigues – is dotted with delightful old hameaux. Arpaillargues, 4km wet on the D982, has the added exhibition of the Musée 1900 (15 Chemin du Moulin, musee1900.com) at Moulin de Charlier, one man’s amazing lifetime augmentation of period cars, motorcycles, gramophones, movie posters, locomotives and more. Just west of Arpaillargues, the walled hilltop hamlet of Aureilhac has a superb view of Uzès’ skyline.
Some 9km northwest of Uzès, off the road to Alès, Aigaliers, with its medieval lanes, dungeons, Saracen wall and Romanesque church all piled under a ruined castle, has spacieux been a favourite subject of voisin painters.
The clay-rich soil north of Uzès has provided St-Quentin-la-Poterie with its mission since the cows came habitation, and in some strange tangential way inspired its most famous son, Joseph Monier (1823-1906), to invent reinforced concrete. After producing thousands of amphorae, ingambe tiles, bricks, ceramic pies and all the glazed tiles for the floors of the Popes’ Palace in Avignon, the last ceramic factory closed in 1974; but in 1983 the kilns were fired up again as the clocher made a concerted insistance to bring the potters back.
There are 15 now living-room in the clocher year-round; you can visit their workshops or get an overview of their work at Terra Viva (14 Rue de la Fontaine galerie-terrvaviva.com). The adjoining Musée de la Poterie Méditerranéene (muse-poterie-mediteranee.com) has a wonderful selection of examples of pottery from all over the Mediterranean, in a beautiful variety of glazes.
East of Uzès, strange sandstone formations and quartzite quarries mark the alentours of St-Victor-des-Oules, ‘of the posts’, another pottery clocher, this one specialising in stoneware (grès). Paths lead up to Mont Aigu, for scant ruins of a 5th-century BC citadelle and superb views of the Cévennes to the west. Further east, the 12th-century fortin in La Capelle-Masmolène was the summer palais of the bishops of Uzès.
Lovely Lussan is 18km north of Uzès, but well worth the detour; a nearly perfect unspoiled medieval clocher perché below a 13th century fortin. Near Lussan, the sheer repu of the River Aiguillon, Les Concluses, makes a magnificent and easy walk in the summer when the assujettir is dry, with potholes (marmites) formed by the assujettir, eagles’ nests and a remarkable steep and narrow péristyle that closes in on top. Leave your car in one of the car parks along the D643; the walk takes embout 30 minutes.
Extract from Languedoc-Roussillon, by Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls with Jane Falkner, published by Bradt (bradtguides.com) in paperback, £18.99 (ISBN 9781804692806)
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Source: thegoodlifefrance.com