Activities in southern Ardèche
Many activities in southern Ardèche are possible and this page
simply aims to suggest some of them…
Preamble
First, this farmhouse and its immediate surroundings are a privileged place…
This comment from the Guide to Charming Guest Houses (Ed: Payot) attests to this. It frees us from an overly personal description, of questionable evidence:
“A few minutes from the Ardèche gorges, this old farm is reborn
in beautiful, wild and generous nature. The garden echoes it,
as the vegetation seems to have spontaneously come to flower
around the farmhouse and isolate each of the terraces.
The interior displays great serenity, a sober decoration,
predominantly beige and sand and the bathrooms are perfect;
and then calm, inside, outside, all around…”(*)
(*)This text dates from the 2018 edition but since that year we have, regretfully, distanced ourselves from the “digital evolution” of the editorial line of the editorial staff. From our point of view, it went astray…. Because the online version (Cf. “IGuide Rivages”) no longer has much in common with the spirit of the paper Guide!
Shelter ?
Then this allows us to calmly say (as also evidenced by most of the opinions posted by our hosts…See bottom of page) that a stay at Mas d’Issoire promotes rest. It is akin to a momentary refuge, from a particularly stressful and anxiety-provoking society…
What’s more, and this is worth emphasizing, because we ourselves resist!
In particular to the ongoing dehumanization which attempts to reduce us to simple QR codes!
And then there is a sumptuous country all around (southern Ardèche)…! And when we know how to get off the beaten track of mass tourism (luckily limited: July 15 to August 20] which remains a still preserved territory. IIt’s good to linger, discover improbable places or simply wander around according to the desires of the day!
The list of possible activities is too long to list here (natural sites, villages, sporting activities, cultural visits, etc.).But we consider that guiding you (if you wish) is fully part of our concept of welcome and, it is a ritual every morning, depending on your desires and the weather, to offer you what seems best to us more appropriate for that day.
And now an overview of the possibilities nearby…
Activities in southern Ardèche
The villages
Here are three but there are many others… Which we will not fail to tell you during the morning “briefings”
Thines in the heart of the Cévennes
Remarkable sites
- The Pont d’Arc and the Gorges de l’Ardèche obviously! Unmissable but popular…Do not consider doing the descent in season in case of agoraphobia !
But we can show you how to hike down there, from the other bank and enjoy its magnificence peacefully, even in summer… - Les Concluses near Lussan (old medieval town). Impressive!
And as it is in Gard very little indicated… - Finally Le gour de la Sompe or the source of Font de Garou…A little frequented place, easy to access and surprisingly beautiful!
The arch of the Pont d'Arc
Culture
Ardèche is perhaps not the first destination we think of for education, but that is in fact a prejudice to be put aside…
Firstly because humans lived there tens of thousands of years ago.
And then its geological age is counted in the millions and its subsoil conceals sometimes astonishing wonders…
Some examples :
Aven d'Orgnac
L’Aven d’Orgnac
“Avens” are natural chasms dug by water in limestone soil. In addition to caves, the Ardèche plateau is full of them, there are many to visit and most of them are worth it. But the immensity and splendor of the Orgnac site make it unique and a priority! Furthermore, and this is a rarity, its management is remarkable for its commercial sobriety! The welcome, provided by locals, is very warm, the activities captivating and its museum (The City of Prehistory) fascinating! And every summer, high-level plays are performed there. .
The Chauvet cave2
So here we change the model… It is undoubtedly worth seeing because the reconstruction is beautifully made… But (there is one big one) it is more about marketing than Culture! Unwilling to endorse a commercial “attraction” hidden under a pretty cultural veneer, we published, in the summer of 2015, some elements of analysis capable of alerting us to what we consider to be a deplorable farce. (In French)
Anselm Kiefer Foundation
Fifth in the list of the most popular artists is a recognized and established figure in the world of contemporary art… In 1992, in Barjac in the Gard, he bought and transformed an old spinning mill into a vast work space of 35 hectares, called “La Ribaute”. He lived and worked there until 2009 and decided in 2016 to create his foundation there, which he called “The Eschaton Mission”…
Open to the public in June 2022 and given the international notoriety of the character, it is obviously a cultural place which cannot be omitted in this section. In fact, Wim Wenders has just released a film about himself and this foundation (“Anselm – the sound of time”), a bit hagiographic but which undoubtedly allows you to have the desire or not to visit it.
In Fine
Here is a quick overview of possible activities in southern Ardèche and around us. We would of course have to add all those that we find, unsurprisingly, in all the busy tourist places.
Implicitly, this page perhaps first serves to reveal a little about who we are and to allow you to consider (or not) meeting us.
