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Home > Discover the Alpes de Haute-Provence > Towns, small towns and typical villages > Barrême
Barrême
The Barremian Stage and Napoleon | TOURIST INFORMATION |
- Digne les Bains : Tourist Office : 04.92.36.62.62.
- See also : Saint-André-les-Alpes, Castellane.
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 THE LIMIT BETWEEN HIGH AND MEDIUM DURANCERich in fossil-bearing sites, Barrême gave its name to a stage in the Secondary Age, the Barremian stage and has a superb geology museum based on the collection of Louis Maurel the paleontologist.
A leg on the famous route Napoléon, Barrême is also proud to own a house where the Emperor spent the night of 4th March 1815. Known in the past for its lavender distillation factories - there is still a "fine lavender of Barrême" quality label.
Barrême is today a big village with its church square and its plane trees, its 4-spouted fountain and its terraced café, all typical of Provence. As you wander down its streets you can admire some beautiful cut-stone houses and several doors which date back a couple of centuries.
Take a walk along the path beside the river (Asse de Moriez) with its shady poplar trees and get a delightful view of the village with its pastel-coloured facades against a green hill: for those in search of peace and quiet, and of course, for fishermen!
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HERITAGE |
- Xth century remains.
- Chapel of Notre-Dame : XIIth century.
- Chapel of Saint-Jean Baptiste : XIIth century
- Church : 1875.
- Round 4-spouted fountain.
- Cut-stone houses, old doors.
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MAIN EVENTS |
- Departmental Lavender and dsitillery festival. 3rd weekend in July. Tel. 04.92.36.15.11.
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VILLAGES AROUND |
- Blieux : the tiny D 21 road which follows the Asse river leads to the end of the world, in a haven of peace: a few old houses, a surprising church with a square belfry built in huge assembled blocks, and an observatory perched 3 hour's walk away on the Mont-Chiran. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the area.
- Chaudon-Norante : if Norante, located above the Route Napoléon at the end of a large meadow where a few horses graze, is a quiet village, what about Chaudon, a tiny perched hamlet, that you have to find at the end of a tiny road? Scattered at the foot of a formidable jagged cliff, its houses are well away from the beaten track! Worth a visit: church, chapel, archaeological dig where a bronze statuette, two copper medallions, a travelling grindstone and a Celtic axe were found. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the area.
- Clumanc : hamlets and a few rare farms in the heart of a pretty quiet valley which is both pastoral and agricultural, where the Asse river runs between two lines of poplars. Horses galop in the meadows with their scatterings of old barns. worth a visit: Château des Périer (XVIIth century), church of Notre-Dame (bas du XVIIIth century, Carolingian period sculpted columns (Xth century), church of Saint-Honnorat (XIVth century). Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the area.
- Saint-Jacques : with a wide panorama over wooded hills, Saint-Jacques is a little village in a high position. As the road does not go any further, this means guaranteed absolute peace and quiet. Worth a visit: XVIth century church, XVIIIth century village oven. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the area.
- Saint-Lions : located in green hills and big cultivated fields, Saint-Lions is a little village which is still agricultural and totally peaceful with a square in the shade of three lime trees, a big fountain, a covered wash-house dating back to the last century and a little church with a wall bell-tower. Worth a visit: church, wash-house. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the area.
- Tartonne : athe foot of the Cheval Blanc mountain (2.323 m), in a beautiful site of stony hills which are oddly folded and cracked or wooded, Tartonne is a little village which is still agricultural as the fields of wheat and the barns filled with hay show. Worth a visit: church of Notre-Dame d’Entraigues (XIIth and XIVth centuries, listed), salt water well, remains of a XVIIth century, Clues de la Peine. Lists of SELF-CATERING GITES in the area.
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THE MARVELLOUS CHURCH OF SENEZ | Senez, an episcopal town as early as IVth century, known since IInd century thanks to the Greek geographer Ptolemy, with a superb XIIth century cathedral and which received Napoleon on 3rd March 1815, is a small village with a long history.
Its superb episcopal church in beautiful time-worn yellow stone has a rich sculpted doorway and a sun-dial. A listed Historical Monument, it is one of the oldest Romanesque churches in Haute-Provence. The interior is as rich, if not more so, than the facade: wood panelling, stalls and altar-pieces, paintings and stained-glass windows, and above all the Flanders and Aubusson tapestries which gave Napoléon « the greatest artistic emotion of his journey ».
Worth a visit : XVIIIth century fountain, Hôtel des Evêques, bridge over the Asse river, Clues de Taulanne.
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ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES |
- Paths : walking and mountain-bike.
- Fishing : in the 3 Asse rivers.
- Tennis : 2 courts. Mountain bike. Rides in the forests.
- Paragliding and hang-gliding 13km away (Moriez)
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OTHER INFORMATION |
- Altitude : 727 m.
- Population : 473 inhabitants.
- To get here :
- by road : RN 202 between Digne (30km) and Nice (118 km) or RN 85 (Grasse 90 km).Coaches from these three towns.
- by train : Train des Pignes station. Tél. 04.92.
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