Paros

5 points of interest

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  Flora

  Hedges

  Hedges (boxwood or thorn bushes) were much used by farmers until the early 20th century to protect crops, flora and fauna, and delimit plots of land. They are the preferred nesting sites of many breeding or migrating birds. They also serve as a hide, not only for birds of prey such as buzzards, sparrowhawks or harriers, but also for insect-eating bids like the Hodgson's redstart and shrike. The berries of certain shrubs (sloe, juniper and dog rose) turn these hedges into larders for seed-eating birds: thrushes, northern grosbeak-canary, ortolan buntings, etc.

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  Agriculture

  Mas André

  Mas are estates or small hamlets. Currently, two families of livestock farmers live in Mas André where they raise sheep for meat (500 to 600 animals). As you leave the hamlet, do stop in front of a complex of ruins with superb stone vaults. Vaulting was often used on both the lower and upper floor, and for both attics and to. The absence of water and of timber for roof structures, the fear of house fires and the abundance of stone explain this type of construction. In fact, a wooden roof could not carry a covering made of limestone tiles – it is too heavy (400 to 500 kg/m²).

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  Flora

  Wild lavender

  Until 1960, wild lavender (Lavandura angustifolia) constituted an important seasonal source of income on the Causse de Sauveterre. A group of women still harvests wild lavender for distillation in two stills in Saint-Etienne-Vallée-Française to produce essential oil. Another part of the harvest is distilled in Faux, near Ispagnac, where there is a distiller. Michel Vieilledent remembers: “The lavender was harvested from the 15th of July to the middle of August. You had to cut the flowers when they changed colour and turned grey, that's when they yield the most scent. A good picker could harvest 120 kg a day. You had to distil 200 kg of stems to obtain just over one litre of essential oil.”

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  History

  Draille

  The path quickly changes appearance. In some places, the roadsides are built using masonry. Here, you are walking on parts of the Estrade, the Causse de Sauveterre's first road for wheeled vehicles and a former mule track, first mentioned in 1703 (chemin de Mende). The Estrade ran in the gully between Paros and Vigos, linking Ispagnac to Mende and other major routes. It is now a draille (drovers' road), used by the sheep farmers from Paros to disperse their flocks over the Causse pastureland.

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  History

  Paros (Perros)

  The bread oven in Paros stands out for being topped by the school bell, making it look like a “blizzard belltower” (a bell rung at regular intervals during heavy fog or blizzards to guide passers-by to safety). The school bell is a remnant from the days when each hamlet was populated and travel was more difficult. Paros had 13 households in 1873 and, until the 1950s, nine farmers called it home.