The châteaux route

7 points of interest

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  The château of arlebosc

  In the centre of the village you can see the old medieval château no doubt dating back to Xlllth century. Destroyed and in ruins it was rebuilt or made bigger several times and is a definite characteristic evidence of the past.

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  Panorama

  Viewing point

  Beautiful views of the French Alps.

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  Bozas

  On the high plateau of Ardèche, Bozas is a lovely village full of treasures to discover. Several theories exist concerning the origin of its name. Some say it has an Occitan origin « bosa » meaning « a round shape » or perhaps « bos » meaning « wooded area » however the most likely origin would come from the first family owners of the village whose name was Boson. The first evidence of the château dates back to the Xllth century even though the remaining parts, to be seen nowadays, date back to the XVth century. There was also a small priory of the Cluny order from the Xlllth century. As well as its rich history the village offers magnificent landscapes including a view of the Mont Blanc in the distance, on a clear day. Don’t miss here the “rando croquis” walk where the whole family can enjoy the beautiful countryside round Bozas and learn some techniques for making it into a picture. So get your sketching pads and pencils ready…. !

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  The château of Bozas

  This château is made of " three wings arranged round a small inner courtyard, closed from the east side by a wall with a postern cutting through it "  It was built between Xlllth and XVth century no doubt. At the end of the XVlllth century the village Marquis had an important extension added on.

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  Small patrimony

  Chalets

  If ever you hear a native of Ardèche mention the words « chalets », « faisses » or even « chambas » he (she) isn’t talking about the names of birds, just describing the so familiar landscape  ! It definitely isn’t an easy task being a farmer on such steep slopes but it takes more than that to discourage the people from round here. And that is how Mankind came to shape the landscape making it more possible to work on. In order to increase the amount of land for growing, he decided to build the dry-stone wall terraces you can see, spreading across the slopes. These retaining walls were also used to hold water tanks, very handy on granitic well-drained soils !

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  Panorama

  Viewing point

  Viewing point overlooking the village of Bozas

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  Small patrimony

  Farmer builders

  At the hamlet called Les Morfins you can see how stone is a predominance in this landscape shaped by agriculture. The heaps of stones called "Clapas" or more locally "Chirat" didn’t come from the album, with a marked Irish influence, « Marchand de Cailloux » by the French singer Renaud , they were quite simply stones piled up by farmers on the edge of fields after being dug out for other uses and also to make the land more easy to work on. They are living proof of a rural civilisation that “tamed” water and stone and add to a stone architecture that the decline of agriculture has somehow made us forget. We cannot remain indifferent to the labour of these « farmer builders » who stone after stone built terraces or « chalets ». And there efforts did not stop there as they also built walls, enclosures to protect vegetable plots, small outbuildings, wells and other fountain vaults, steps, huts…. “graveliers » is the name they gave to small huts made of drystone, covered with vine shoots and used to shelter farmers and for storing tools and crops. Information source : "Paysans bâtisseurs, paysages de pierres, paysages de vie", association Histoire et Patrimoine, 2001.

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