Saint-Ambroix: Holiday apartments and holiday homes

The Fèstas dau Volo Biòu are at the heart of the local festival tradition. They are regarded as a historic, totemic and traditional festival and are rooted in the cultural heritage, memory and identity of Saint-Ambroix and its inhabitants.

Anyone wishing to rent a holiday apartment in Saint-Ambroix can consider Saint-Ambroix as a destination.

Festivals

Every year in July, Saint-Ambroix celebrates the legend of the Volo-Biòu with a three-day traditional festival. It includes markets, storytelling, traditional costumes, events and reenactments. The Volo-Biòu festival programme includes, among other things, a market in the style of bygone times, performances, stilt walkers, theatre and processions centred around the legend of the flying ox Caïet and the Langue d'Oc.

Nature

Les Méandres de la Cèze is a 8.75-kilometre circular hike with a stated duration of 2 hours and 30 minutes. The circular route starts and ends at Place de l’Esplanade in Saint-Ambroix. It combines agricultural heritage with panoramic views of the Cévennes and the medieval centre of Saint-Ambroix.

Les Méandres de la Cèze has yellow local trail markings and corresponding signposts. An audio guide for the route is also available via the Latitude Gard smartphone app.

History

At the entrance to Saint-Ambroix stands the Tour Guisquet, a round brick tower built around 1850 following a property dispute between the Guisquet and Manifacier families. It has four pointed-arch openings and a crenellated crown, giving it the appearance of a historic landmark resembling a watchtower.

The Chapelle du Dugas was built in 1867 on the ruins of the Dugas as a chapel-like structure with a fortress-like character and was financed through donations. Its Romanesque form, crenellated all around, comprises a main tower and four turrets; a statue of the Virgin Mary, inaugurated on 19 October 1868, stands on the main tower. The chapel stands on a prominent rocky plateau more than 40 metres high. Its annual festival takes place on 5 August, with Mass celebrated on the Sunday closest to this date.

The history of silk is also present in the townscape. Saint-Ambroix was home to as many as 28 silk-spinning mills, employing more than 1,000 female workers. Sericulture made Saint-Ambroix wealthy in the 19th century. The former silk industry is visible in the local architecture; the workshops of the spinning mills can be identified by their tall round-arched windows.

The first mill of Moulin Bonnet dates back to the 12th century and was the town's compulsory mill. In 1885, Moulin Bonnet was converted into a grain mill, with the millstones replaced by grooved rollers.

Construction of Saint-Ambroix's first Protestant temple began in 1574 on the initiative of Pastor Chamier, following a decision by the inhabitants on 21 May. It was located between the Grand Rue, now Rue de l’Hôtel de Ville, and the town walls along what is now Boulevard du Portalet.

In July and August, the Cèze Cévennes Tourist Office offers guided tours of Saint-Ambroix's old town on Thursdays from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Location

Saint-Ambroix is located 19 kilometres northeast of Alès and can be reached via the RD904.

More town pages: Mejannes Les Ales, Lussan, Salazac, Saint-Pons-La-Calm, Marsillargues, Saint-Paulet-De-Caisson, Saint-André-De-Majencoules, Saint-Hilaire-D'ozilhan.

To the main travel overview: Gard.