History
Historically, the Auvergne Region has been quite isolated from the rest of france due to it's geographical position and topography and was indeed only incorporated fully into France in 1527. It has therefore, developed a character quite distinct from the rest of France and a people who are extremely independent and proud and who value their traditions and way of life highly.
They refer to themselves as Auvergnats and often describe France as 'Auvergne surrounded by a bit of land'.
The region is predominantly agricultural and is famous for it's dairy herds which produce the unique Saint Nectaire, Salers and Cantal cheeses. However, on the lower lying plateaus arable farming is predominant, where farmers grow crops such as sunflowers, which produce a stunning display throughout the summer months and from which the seeds are harvested. Corn and even soy beans are also grown in the region!
It's industrial past can not be ignored and has developed in several directions including the popularity of the Thermale Industry in the 19th Century which is probably becoming more popular today. Auvergne is renowned for it's hot and cold mineral springs with numerous spas throughout the region and also for it's Volvic spring water which is bottled at source and shipped all over the world! The Auvergne has also developed it's manufacturing industry with the export of rubber from the Michelin Company which has it's base on the outskirts of Clermont Ferrand near Riom.
Climate
The Auvergne has a yearly average temperature of around 12 degrees but is distinctly
Continental, typically meaning longer warmer summers than the UK and colder, snowy
winters which contribute greatly to the average temperature. Typically temperatures
in the mountains can be 3 or 4 degrees cooler than in the City of Clermont Ferrand
and the pasture lands of the Allier and Haute-
Geography
The Auvergne Region is situated in the Southern Central Region of France and is part
of an elevated area consisting of rocky mountains and plateaus called The Massif
Central, which is made up of the following departments: Ardeche, Creuse, Lot, Lozere,
Haute-
The Auvergne is shaped roughly like Wales in the UK, covers an area of around 10,034 square miles (25,988) square metres and is relatively sparsely populated by approximately 1.3 million people. It is an area of great contrasts with the gentle rolling farmland of the Allier to the north, the Regional Liveradois Forest to the East and giving way to the alluring almost other worldly region of the Volcanoes and natural lakes in the Puy de Dome to the South and West which also includes the highest peak in central France called the Puy de Sancy.
The region then leads to the bleak and almost austere, underpopulated area of the Cantal and the department of the Haute Loire which is home to high plateaus and the Gorges of The Allier and Loire. and the four departments of the Auvergne itself, which are explained in more detail later.
The Auvergne has opened up considerably to the rest of the world since the introduction of the A75 Autoroute in 1999, which links Paris and the North to the Auvergne and also more recently the opening of the A86 which links the region with Bordeaux and the West of France.
