Discover places that are members of the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France® or that have been awarded the status of a Petite Cité de Caractère®
Apremont-sur-Allier
A member of the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France®
Set beside the Allier River and overseen by its château, Apremont-sur-Allier takes you on an extraordinary journey through history. The former quarrymen’s village here was bought in 1930 by industrialist Eugène Schneider, owner of the forges of Le Creusot, and he had the village reconstructed in the traditional style of the old province of Berry. A Parc Floral was also created here in the 1970s, by Gilles de Brissac, combining his passions for travel and plants. Now awarded the national status of a Jardin Remarquable, the park surprises visitors with its collections of rare trees and shrubs, as well as its follies, a fashion copied from other European traditions.
Billy and its fort above the Allier River
Petite Cité de Caractère®
The village was built at the foot of a fort protected by two sets of walls. It boasts characterful houses, a communal well, the Chabotin Gateway and the forbidding home once reserved for the captain of the guard, at the entrance to the outer bailey, flanked by an impressive ten towers. The village’s winding lanes and overall circular construction might make you think that local life was wholly centred around the fort in centuries past. In fact, the place first developed around its church, in the hamlet of La Paroisse, c.800m from the rest of the village. This church of Saint-Cyr-Sainte-Julitte conceals an 11th-century Romanesque crypt, also known as the Cave Saint-Georges, as local winemakers took to storing their wine down there!
Châteldon
Petite Cité de Caractère®
Châteldon is a village known for its mineral water, naturally fizzy, with elegant little bubbles. The most eminent person to have appreciated the water’s benefits was none other than France’s Sun King, Louis XIV, Châteldon water regularly ordered for Versailles. Châteldon is also a charming parish centred around its medieval village nestling in a green setting at the foot of a steep forest, the Massif des Bois Noirs. Three circuits encourage visitors to wander through the lanes around the castle and to look for vestiges of buildings from down the centuries as well as of signs of how the inhabitants’ lives developed through time.
Chauriat fortified village
A member of the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France®
At the end of the Middle Ages, fortified villages sprouted up, with over 140 identified across the Grande Limagne plain in what is now the département, or French county, of Puy-de-Dôme. They arose in response to the widespread insecurity that increased at the end of the 13th century and only got worse with the Hundred Years War. As local lords were no longer required to ensure the defence of their villages, inhabitants reinforced their own defensive structures.
Usson
A member of the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France®
Overseen by a statue of the Virgin Mary measuring 7m in height, this perched village affords views across to both the Monts Dore and Chaîne des Puys mountain ranges. The Château d'Usson became a place of exile for Marguerite de Valois, nicknamed la reine Margot. She was the sister of French king Charles IX and became the wife of the first French Bourbon royal, King Henri IV. The village is a member of the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France.
Nonette
Petite Cité de Caractère®
Le bourg est dominé au sud par un dyke volcanique dominant de 170 m le cours de la rivière Allier. Il offre un beau panorama sur les monts Dore, le Cézallier, le volcan cantalien, le Livradois, la Comté, le puy de Dôme... Un sentier permet de faire le tour de la butte et de monter au sommet. Belle église romane.
Auzon
Petite Cité de Caractère®
Located where the Limagne Plain meets the foothills of the Livradois Mountains, Auzon boasts some fine medieval vestiges. At the heart of this village now designated a Petite Cité de Caractère, the collegiate church of St Lawrence was built on a rocky outcrop close to the castle. Inside the edifice, which dates back to the 12th century, you’ll find a veritable museum of religious art, including a 16th-century stone pulpit.
Chilhac
Petite cité de caractère®
Perched on volcanic lava columns overlooking the Allier River, Chilhac piques visitors’ interest. A medieval village surrounded by ramparts and built around a Romanesque church, it’s now been designated a Petite Cité de Caractère. A good number of old winemakers’ houses and the Museum of Palaeontology draw visitors’ attention. Below stands a 19th-century suspension bridge spanning the Allier.
Pradelles
A member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France®
Looking down on the Allier Valley and located on the ancient Voie Régordane (a road linking the Auvergne to the Languedoc), this historic fortified stronghold long provided an important stopover for traders bringing merchandise northwards and for pilgrims walking from Le Puy-en-Velay down to Saint-Gilles (a major pilgrimage town close to the Camargue and the Mediterranean). Fine sturdy stone homes with distinctive arches bear witness to prosperous times past, their tall façades built to protect them from inclement weather from the Cévennes Mountains. One of the most famous 19th-century travellers to pass through was Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, whose name has been adopted for the major hiking trail, the GR70, that runs down the Auvergne via Pradelles.
