Largentière is a market town, with a population of less than 2,000, in the Monts d'Ardèche, the north-eastern foothills of the Cévennes, those bigger-than-hills, smaller-than-mountains that Robert Louis Stevenson explored with his donkey. Crammed into a bend of a narrow valley, its harmonious stone houses climb and fall in steep, tight, crooked streets.
I loathe places where the changes of season are imperceptible. Largentière is dank under grey skies and glorious through long springs and autumns; it endures life-threatening downpours in the flood season, and in August is as stifling as a Kasbah. There can be few towns where the weather so affects the communal mood.
The name derives from the silver-bearing lead mines which were first exploited by the Romans, and came into their own as a source of funding for the Crusades. The medieval chateau, and the fortress towers of the surrounding villages, were built to protect the Crusaders' revenues.
The town's 13th-century church is called Nôtre-Dame-des-Pommiers, Our Lady of the Apple Trees, and the surrounding valleys also include steeply terraced orchards of cherry, plum and fig, among the vineyards and olive groves. For years I have lived in a converted silk farm among these orchards, and I go whenever possible to the Tuesday market. I started to go for convenience, and now go for love.
There are many quiet pleasures to be enjoyed in Largentière. I have a particular fondness for Madame Martin's quincaillerie. 'Ironmongers' doesn't begin to describe this two-storey shop bristling with hunting knives, glittering with highly polished pots and pans, and arrayed with every household necessity, plus a super-chic line in kitchen- and tableware. An added bonus is that there are often several kittens scampering about.
A few miles away is the Roseraie de Berty the garden of renowned rose-grower Eléonore Cruse. Open to the public from mid-May to mid-June, when the roses are flourishing, the garden is laid out in a semi-English manner, which French gardening formalists may find untidy. I have bought many roses from Mme Cruse – as well as her useful and enjoyable books. Her garden is a place of perfect repose, full of heady scents and rich colours. It is the sanest place I know on earth.
• Fly to Nîmes (two hours' drive from Largentière) from Luton or Liverpool from £62 return with Ryanair or take a train from London to Avignon (seven hours direct) from £109 return through Rail Europe . Les Marroniers , 3km away near La Prade, has a gîte sleeping six from €320 a week, B&B doubles from €43, plus camping pitches and mobile homes
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