Some aspects of our heritage.

The Hautes-Alpes, close to the borders, have been a strategic place for centuries to protect territories.

From the Gallo-Roman period, through the Middle Ages, the 18th century with Vauban and up to the 19th century, the nobility built castles on promontories and high points of the landscape, either feudal castles to protect themselves from invasions, or to consolidate their power and demonstrate their strength and wealth.

Medieval fortresses were numerous. Often, only ruins remain.

However, some, rebuilt, enlarged, restored, sometimes bought back by families with prestigious coats of arms or by the state, the region, the department to enrich the national heritage, have withstood centuries and wars.

At La Roche-des-Arnauds

 The family of lords of FleetThe local counts had it built in 1024 on the rock overlooking the village. a wooden dungeon then, in the 13th century  a real military fortress imposing with its round-shaped keep, its 2,10m thick walls and its vaulted rooms.

Of this fortified castle, only a small part of the keep and a few vaulted foundations remain, bordered to the east by the usual wide defensive moat.

The Counts of Fleet were given the following names: Arnaud, the eldest of each generation. Thus, the village quite naturally found its name: La Roche-des-Arnauds.

 The current castle in the village had an additional floor which was burned down in 1789 by revolutionaries.

It was built in the late 17th and early 18th centuries to defend against the invasions of the Duke of Savoy in 1692. It bears no resemblance to the medieval fortress but was rebuilt on the foundations of an earlier castle.

And, about ten minutes from your campsite...

Go visit the village of Montmaur and immerse yourself in its rich history.

The Saracen TowerRestored in 2000, this watchtower was built not far from the village, atop Châtel hill, in the 10th century to protect the inhabitants from attackers arriving from the Buëch valley. For even greater security, the tower has no access door on the ground floor. Access was via a ladder at the level of the guardroom.

 And, of course, its jewel, The magnificent Château de Montmaur, classified as a historical monument since 1988 and acquired by the department since 2006, is open to the public from June to September.

For centuries, at the gateway to the Gap region, in the Buëch valley, at the foot of the Coucherine mountain and the foothills of the Aurouze massif, the castle, stronghold of the powerful barony of Montmaur, has dominated the plain with its 40-meter sides and 30-meter height. It was built in the 14th century on the site of an ancient Roman castrum (a temporary or permanent fortified site intended to protect Roman armies), based on a complex built around a square tower with watchtowers (stone sentry boxes) at each corner.

Over four centuries, the architecture, its interior layout, and its decoration have evolved. The corners were replaced the watchtowers Built in 1590 with four round towers, two of these towers are still visible, joined by a curtain wall, the defensive wall to the west. Two fires in the 17th and 18th centuries ravaged the castle and destroyed two stories. Added to the main body of the castle are two farm buildings comprising stables, barns, and other outbuildings. 

In 1992 one of the lower levels buried during the Second Empire was unearthed.

Inside and out, under the influence of its guests, the Montauban, Aix-Artaud, Flotte, and Agoult families, the castle was transformed.

Impressive carved walnut doors open onto grand state rooms that can reach 150 square meters in area and 5 meters in height! The ceilings are in the French style, meaning that the pine and larch beams that make them up are the same width as the spaces between them and are very often carved and decorated. On the colorful friezes that run around the rooms, painted scenes, animated with figures, tell moral stories or make references to mythology. They are punctuated with philosophical maxims.

The chimneys are monumental, sometimes richly sculpted and carved from gypsum (a whitish stone also called moonstone).

Open your eyes wide because most of the painted decorations date from the Renaissance. The castle escaped the pillaging and destruction of feudal wars and invasions, as well as that of the French Revolution of 1789, which destroyed many castles, symbols of royalty.

A slight detour? And here you are, of course, at Veynes about 15 minutes from your campsite!