To the heart of a history...

The Cevenol Tourist Region, the Tourist Centre of the Cevenol Valleys, welcomes you to its havens of nature, surrounded by its many bodies of water, where you can abandon yourself to the pleasures of bathing.
From Pompidou in Lozère, to Pompignan in the Gard, from the Cevennes mountains to the plains of the garrigue, the Cevenol Tourist Region will share its enthusiasm and its roots with you, as well as the emotion of its gentle sensitivity, which has forged the land and the character of its people for many years.
A large range of sporting and cultural activities and hiking are on offer, allowing you to discover the heritage and many architectural riches of the Cevenol Tourist Region, combined with the outstanding variety of landscapes in the Cevennes National Park.

The "Vallée Française" in Lozère

The search for the origins of the name, "Vallée Française" has given rise to a great many interpretations.
For some, it means a free valley, or a valley which does not pay tax.
For others, it means that this valley remained free at the time of the Saracen invasions.
Modern-day historians agree in thinking that the origin of this name comes from the fact that this valley was a long-lasting free outpost in Visigoth Septimania (between the 5th and 8th centuries).

The Borgne Valley

"Bornha" in Occitan language means a cavity and, in particular, one from which water from a mill or a reservoir rises. It may refer to a spring lying in a crevice. Therefore, it would appear that the name of the valley comes from water, the land of springs.

The Salendrinque Valley

This valley is known as the Emerald Valley, or the "Pearl of the Valleys", from the poems by Alphonse Daudet, who, in Lasalle in 1857, wrote "Les Prunes" and "Les Petits Enfants" under the generic title "Les Amoureuses". Its charm resides in the diversity of its landscapes and the wealth of its architecture, illustrated by the many castles and manor houses.

The Valley of the Piedmont Cevenol
around St Hippolyte du Fort

No, the inhabitants of St Hippolyte du Fort are not called St Hippolytians. They are called "Cigalois" and "Cigaloises". Several explanations have been given for this and, it is true that we are in a land chosen by the "cigale" (the cicada) as its home.