Alive
On the doorstep of the biggest cities in the Rhone Alpes region, the Chambaran forest covers over 18000 acres of deciduous trees with many small lakes, ponds and larger lakes.
It is not unusual as you walk around a path or a village to be in close contact with the local fauna living in the forest. The Natural Park of Chambaran is a vast woodland which is home to a large deer stock whose bellowing calls can be heard at the beginning of Autumn. When alone amidst this thick forest, any visitor truly feels alive!
A place of contrast
As a thoroughfare through the centuries, the Bièvre Valley bears the footprint of human communication tools of yesteryear such as the Chateau de Bressieux and of today with motorways and airports. Despite this, a stone’s throw from Bressieux, as you go deep into the spiritual Chambaran forest, you enter remote places suited to meditation, as the abbeys that can still be found around the area show us. And do not forget that this forest was also refuge to some famous highwaymen such as Louis Mandrin…
Full of light
The future belongs to those who get up early… and go to bed late! Every morning and evening in the land of Mandrin, a subdued light floods the villages and forests with pure beauty.
If you are brave enough to get up to Camp de Cesar (Caesar’s camp) near the village of Plan, the highest point of the Chambaran and the Bièvre, you will discover at dawn and dusk a short lived spectacle of outstanding beauty. And when autumn comes painting the forest with a multitude of colours, the light makes it a truly magical place.