The territory has a surface area of around 3,000 square kilometres, and is located in two regions and four départements: Hérault, Gard, Aveyron and Lozère (which hosts over half of it).
In a spectacular natural setting, the Causses and Cévennes present a diversity of Mediterranean landscapes fashioned by human hand over millennia.
Whether it is the limestone plateaux of the Grands Causses (Causse Méjean, Causse de Sauveterre, Causse Noir, etc.), deeply cut by gorges (Tarn Gorges, Jonte Gorges) or valleys (Lot Valley); or the rugged relief of the schist Cévennes, and the granite Mont Lozère and Mont Aigoual: this plethora of magic scenes for the visitor was shaped by the bedrock, but also by local Cévenol or Caussenard farmers, who domesticated their outstanding environment through pastoral farming.
Pastoral farming bears witness to an inventive agrarian history, and is today embodied in these outstanding landscapes as well as in a built heritage of a very high quality (villages, the architecture of farm buildings, drailles, sheepfolds, lavognes [ponds on the Causses], small vernacular constructions, etc.) and in the more intangible heritage of ancestral knowledge.
Visitors can re-energise themselves in this wholly preserved area, which is covered in part by the Cévennes National Park and the Grands Causses Regional Nature Reserve, and discover the myriad facets of a territory that is unique on the Mediterranean rim.
On spectacular hikes punctuated by overnight stops on farms that practice agro-tourism or at local inns, visitors can also catch sight of a shepherd with his flock of sheep or goats at the bend of a path, and taste fine natural farm products during a refreshing break. Pélardon, Roquefort, all kinds of delicious cheeses – these are surely the best evidence of the dynamism and inventiveness of pastoral farming!
