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Home > Discover the Alpes de Haute-Provence > Towns, small towns and typical villages > Banon
Banon
Land of the Senses at the foot of the montagne de Lure | TOURIST INFORMATION |
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 FROM BOOKSHOP TO CHEESEBanon is a landscape of « ponchons », gentle hills rolling from the Montagne de Lure down to the south. The old perched village with its medieval airs can be seen from faraway against a backdrop of wooded hills and open farming areas, deciduous oaks which keep their dry russet leaves until the spring, and a patchwork of fileds of lavender, wheat and clary sage.
High rampart houses, covered passage-ways, restored cobbled streets and a machicolated gate all bear witness to the history which has marked the landscape since VIIth century BC and the Celto-Ligurian period. Note the bories, dry-stone constructions in the fields and brush where the shepherds sheltered, and the sheepfolds known as Jas.
Today Banon is famous for two specialities: its goat's cheese, one of the eleven in France to have obtained the AOC label which has enabled around a hundred goat farmers to continue working and preserve a unique culinary heritage; and the Bleuet bookshop which is one of the best-known in France and which has many rare books.
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HERITAGE |
- Machicolated gate : 14th century
- Square tower and ramparts of the former castle : 14th century.
- Houses in the rue des Arcades.
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WORTH A VISIT |
- Ecomusée : Cheese-museum .
- Lavender distillery.
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MAIN EVENTS |
- Provencal market : on Tuesday and Friday mornings.
- Fair : 1st Tuesday in April, July and October.
- Cheese festical : May.
- Feastday : mid-August.
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BANON, AN AGE-OLD TRADITION | In the region of Banon, peasants used traditionally to keep the excess cheeses, the main source of protein for the winter, by wrapping them in chestnut leaves.
Banon cheese is made using old recipes elaborated in the farms of Haute-Provence. This soft-curd technique, imposed by the mild climate, gives a very smooth cheese. After a period of ripening, the goat's cheese is wrapped in chestnut leaves to develop its very specific flavours, the fruit of an alchemy between fermentation and the migration of the tannins in the leaves to this round cheese which weighs around 100g.
Sharp fruity white wines or young red wines from the South-West go well with a not too ripe Banon, whereas a Beaume-de-Venise muscat or a golden Rasteau are well-suited to a riper Banon.
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THE VILLAGES AROUND |
- La Rochegiron : the district which stretches right up to the Lure ridge, is dotted with dry-stone jas used during the transhumance of sheep to the upper valleys. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the district.
- L’Hospitalet : partly Romanesque church, ruins of the old High Medieval former village, the Giron tower. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the district.
- Montsalier : the Caladaire swallow-hole, many dove-cotes and the ruins of windmills and a Romanesque church on the ridge of the buttress of the Plateau d'Albion. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the district.
- Redortiers-le-Contadour : Romanesque dungeon on a rocky spur, remains of a medieval village and a network of beautiful sheepfolds right up to the top of the Fraches with a magnificent view of the Baronnies, the southern alps and the Ventoux. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the district.
- Revest-des-Brousses : a number of remains from the Mourres gateway (15th century) to the castle of Pontevès, an 18th century country house. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the district.
- Revest-du-Bion : famous for its Chestnut Festival, a Fontaine de Dieu on the Place Basse and monumental Portissol gate (18th century). Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the district.
- Saumane : simple architecture representative of the south-facing slope of Lure, beautiful view of the Luberon. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the district.
- Vachères : nicely restored village in local limestone, covered passage-ways, Paleontological & Archeological museum. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the district.
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ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES |
- Day care centre in Revest-du-Bion. Tel. 04.92.77.23.93.
- Day camp without qacommodation. Tel. 04.92.73.05.95.
- Hiking rest stop.
- Tennis courts.
- Hang-gliding and paragliding site. Tel. 04.92.73.37.66. www.voler-au-pays.com
- Riding centre.
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OTHER INFORMATION |
- Altitude : 850 m.
- Population : 1.000 inhabitants.
- To get here :
- from the North : A7 motorway, Avignon sud exit, N100 to Apt, D22 then D51.
- from the South : A51 motorway, la Brillanne exit, N100, Forcalquier then D950.
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