The Property
Booking
Location
The Allier - The northernmost department of the Auvergne is a predominantly agricultural region and is an area of gently rolling hills and pastures. It is by comparison the flattest area in the Auvergne and has five rivers running through it including The Allier itself and The Sioule famous for carving out the deep gorges which contributes to the making the landscape more varied and interesting.
It's main Cities are Montlucon, Moulins and Vichy which have boosted the departments population considerably in the last two hundred years or so with the development of Industry in general and more specifically the Thermale Tourism Industry at Vichy which is famous for it's water and curative/restorative treatments.
The Allier or Bourbonnais region is famous as the land of the Dukes of Bourbon, the ancestral realm of the last eight Kings of France and is home to their many castles or Chateaus most notably in the town of Bourbon l'Archambault. The area attracts many tourists every year who are predominantly lovers of architecture, art and culture.
The Puy de dome - The central department of The Auvergne is home to the Region's Capital of Clermont-Ferrand. It is arguably the region's most diverse department containing dense forests and waterfalls undulating volcanoes and high plateaus, craggy mountains and deep valleys with a myriad of lakes and rivers most notable of these are Lac Pavin, a completely circular or crater type Volcanic Lake and Lac d'Aydat formed by a natural lava flow dam which occurred when the nearby Volcanoes of Puy de Lassolas and Puy de la Vache erupted explosively around 7,500 years ago. Most notable are the Rivers Allier and Dordogne which both have their sources high in the Sancy Mountain Range.
The Puy de dome is home to two Regional Natural Parks which are The Parc des Volcans and the Livradois Forest. The Volcanic Park contains a chain of over 80 dormant, virtually extinct volcanoes formed over 100,000 years ago of which the highest and most spectacular is The Puy de Dome at a height of 1465m which can be reached on foot or by car or tourist bus from the base.It also contains the range of Sancy Volcanoes which are more reminiscent of The Alps and which possesses the highest peak in Central France known as The Puy de Sancy which reaches an altitude of 1885m. This range is home to the Winter Ski Resorts of Le Mont Dore and Superbesse which are described in more detail later.
Outdoor sports such as walking and cycling can be pursued on over 5,000kms of waymarked trails where you can observe spectacular views from a multitude of view points all over the department.
Puy de dome is definitely a nature lover's paradise where regions such as the Protected Reserve of The Vallee de Chaudfour and the Orienteering Centre around Saint Nectaire and Murol are home to stunning species of wildlife now so rare in Central Europe.
The region has many Chateaus and Romanesque Churches and is also most notably a Centre of Thermalism with many spas and interesting towns which developed to exploit the curative and therapeutic industries most popular in the 19th Century and which today is experiencing a major revival as people seek refuge at spas escaping the stresses and strains of modern day life.
It is also home to many 'Plus Beaux Villages' of France such as Montpeyroux, Saint Saturnin and Saint-Floret and houses many Museums of Art and History.
The Allier and Puy de Dome
