In the largest protected open spaces in Europe

A top quality natural site, a nature park is the ideal destination for people who love nature and want to admire a wide variety of landscapes (lakes, forests, volcanoes, valleys, moors and limestone plateaux). Committed to enhancing and protecting the natural environment, the park offers many kilometres of marked walks, theme paths, bird-watching hides, and discovery tours which will appeal to the curious, and environmentally friendly activities that are in keeping with the park’s policies. But the nature park is also a place of experiences where you can discover local areas and their inhabitants who are attached to preserving the traditional ways and customs, and love to share them. In these immense stretches of green countryside, live in contact with the country and the local folk.

Experience the striking scenery of the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Nature Park. Discover the magic emanating from the Chain of Puys with its 80 volcanoes (domes and craters) and superb lakes,climb to the peaks to admire the magnificent panorama (the top of the Puy de Dome lies at 1,465 m). Walk the paths that follow the ridges of the Sancy and Cantal mountain range, or others in the vast high country of the Cézallier. Breathe deeply of the luxurious and sometimes rare wild plants and flowers (martagon lily, precious orchids, carnivorous plants in the wetlands) and contemplate the view from the Puy de Sancy (1,885 m), the Plomb du Cantal (1,855 m) or Puy Mary (classified major national site, 1,787 m). In the Livradois-Forez Regional Nature Park, make the most of unspoilt nature and discover the traditional ways of living. Return to original values in the high lonely moors of the Hautes-Chaumes (1,500 m), where if you are lucky you might catch a glimpse of the very rare hazel grouse, the little owl with its great yellow eyes, or the big white butterfly of the mountains, the Forez Parnassius Apollo ... Make your way into the Fossat and Reblats valleys in the Forez mountains, where peat bogs have slowly built up. To the South, be sure not to miss the Mont Bar volcano and its shimmering silver peat bog, unique in the world. The Haut-Livradois forested plateaux abound in woods and forests, with several ponds to round off a romantic walk. Down in the Bas-Livradois are to be found a number of trout rivers, scattered farm hamlets and glorious scenes at sunset.

The Limousin is an unspoilt and attractive region where the inhabitants are sure to charm you with their discreet yet kind welcome. On the Millevaches plateau in the heart of the Millevaches Regional Nature Park in Limousin (reputed to have “1,000 springs”), with the changing seasons you can admire mullein, straw-yellow marsh grass, or heather with its little pink flowers so good for honey, and which used to be used to make brooms. Climb to the top of Mont Bessou (culminating at 977 m), go picking blueberries in the Monédières hills or have a round of golf on the rustic Chammet course where the groundsman is replaced by sheep to keep the grass short. In the Périgord-Limousin Regional Nature Park, let yourself surrender to the magic of the chestnut forests and deep valleys so generously blessed with waterways.

Water has been the object of reverence here since Celtic times: on your outings you will come across excellent springs still complete with ex-voto offerings. The king of the forest here is the chestnut, whose leaf the Limousin has taken for emblem. In times gone past these leaves were dried and stuffed in fabric casings to make quilts. These rustled so much they were nicknamed “talking quilts”.

Finally, allow yourself to succumb to the charms of the Lozère department,the sober elegance of the high plateaux and limestone flatlands, and the playful vivacity of its gorges. Nature lovers will be enchanted by the Cévennes National Park: high plateaux, ridges, slopes and valleys, and Mont Lozère and Mont Aigoual (1,567 m) which look out over the immense limestone plateaux before them. The quality of the various landscapes has earned the Park a place in the UNESCO world network of biosphere reserves.

In 1995, it also won the major European “Tourism and Environment” award. Here you will discover an exceptional variety of wild life (2,410 species listed, thanks to the reintroduction of native species that had disappeared) and a no less remarkable range of plant life (11,000 species of plants of which 33 are protected) due to the differing soils and altitudes (from 378 to 1,699 m). The people in the region are just as fascinating when they recount the exploits of the Camisard rebels or the legends of the wild countryside,underneath the stars ...

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