Francis Geere

11 Rue du Chateau, 25330 Nans-sous-Ste.Anne, Franche Comté, France

Telephone and Fax: +33 381 865 541

Mobile: +33 668 472 580

This village, set in a peaceful but spectacular green valley at about 1,100-ft above sea level, has the timeless atmosphere of an English country community of 50 years ago. It dozes in tranquillity for much of the time and is the perfect antidote to the stress of modern life. Happily, it is too far from any major town to be a dormitory village. It has about 120 inhabitants of whom all are pleasant and helpful but few have much English.

Nans (for short) is a typical rural French community with as many young as elderly, and there is plenty of life throughout the summer months particularly at the activities centre/hostel. Other foreigners with homes in the village include Dutch, Americans, Germans and Swiss.

The major local topographical attraction is the spectacle (about 20 minutes’ walk from the cottage) of the River Lison cascading fully-formed from the side of the cliff in a deep wooded gorge. This is the second largest underground river in our Jura region, and you can enter the cavern from which it emerges to gain a ledge known as the Chaire à Prêcher (the Pulpit) to observe the silently emerging river.

But the source of the River Lison is only the first of three spectacular geological phenomena in the gorge. Immediately behind and above the river’s official source is the Creux Billard (the Billiard Pocket), a deep chasm which provides a unique glimpse of the river’s erstwhile subterranean passage. Signs of Neolithic occupation have been found in a cave in its side. A cross upon a rock in the sump of the Creux commemorates a fatal fall in the 19C, but you won’t see it unless you are prepared to make a rather athletic descent into the pit to seek it out.

A few hundred yards’ walk away through the woods is the Grotte Sarrazine (the Monk’s Cowl Cavern) which, overhung by a precipitous wooded cliff, forms a gigantic natural porch almost 300 feet high and hosts falcons. Its usually dry cavern permits access with a torch, but after heavy rain the source, fed by a derivative of the Lison, flows copiously.

These unusual sights all merit two stars in the Green Michelin guide and attract many visitors to the village, particularly on summer Sundays.

But such caves and water sources are not uncommon in the region. Indeed, there are more around the village, including that which provides the stream that passes the end of my garden. This is the Verneau whose source is only a 10-minute walk away up in the cliffs behind the cottage. But what adventures the stream experiences in that short distance! Its waterfalls and other little cascades are particularly spectacular after rainfall and form a veritable adventure playground for children.

  The Verneau

Its grotto is the gateway to a pitch-dark 25 km network of features served by numerous potholes on the plateau above. Read more about this below.

Behind the cottage on the way up to the source of the Verneau is a tall square building that once served as a mill for the village. Amongst other things, pottery of a very high standard was produced there from 1833 until 1929. The mill has been converted to residential use but what remains of the original interior is worth seeing if you can make a personal arrangement to do so. One of the principal features of the pottery of Nans was its pink rim. Although the quality of the product was good, its high value in the antiques market today is attributable more to its scarcity.

But the recorded history of the village begins in the 13^th century with the establishment of a castle by the Montrichard family, presumably to be able to levy a salt tax. That castle, originally nestling in the gorge of the Verneau, was rebuilt more prominently and photogenically in the 16^th century three doors up from the Maison Rose, and is now known as the Chateau Mirabeau.

Why ‘Mirabeau’? In 1776 it was the summer residence of the 75 year old Marquis de Monnier, President of the Audit Office in Pontarlier. His 20 year old wife, Sophie de Ruffey, with meagre dowry, had preferred this marriage of convenience to the alternative: life in a convent. Mirabeau, who later became prominent as a Monarchist in the French Revolution, was a prisoner/debtor in the Château de Joux near Pontarlier at the time. Allowed a certain measure of freedom, he befriended the Monniers, and the inevitable happened. The affair was discovered and Mirabeau was forced to flee. Sophie departed too, but in more romantic fashion. At nightfall, dressed as a man, she made her way into the gardens, climbed over the wall by pre-positioned ladder, mounted a waiting horse and, riding like the wind, met Mirabeau at the Swiss frontier. A sum of 10,000 livres, purloined from the old man over a period of time, had been transferred to Switzerland ahead of the couple. The court at Pontarlier, unmoved by the romantic aspects of the case, condemned the seducer, in absentia, to death, and the wife to a nun’s habit. Arrested in Amsterdam, the fugitives were extradited to France. Mirabeau managed to retain his head but was ordered to make amends to the wronged Marquis. The romance of Nans was over and Sophie, depending upon which story you prefer to believe, either committed suicide or chose the convent. Mirabeau subsequently featured in the upheavals of the French Revolution, but died in bed! Today, the Château is owned by a consortium of antiques dealers. Alas, it cannot be visited.

Nans-sous-Ste.Anne means ‘the Valley beneath St Anne’. So who or what was Saint Anne? In this case she was a castle, built during the period of Spanish rule in the 16^th century on a cliff 1,000 ft above the village, presumably also to tax the salt trade.

La Maison Rose facing the heights of Ste.Anne

When Louis XIV forcibly attached Franche Comté to France in 1674 he immediately ordered such castles destroyed. Today the walk up to the ridge where the castle stood is well worth the effort for the superb view of the village, for a sight of the castle’s few remains, indeed, merely for the exercise! Alternatively, the site of the Château can be reached by car and on foot without an energetic climb by driving up to the hamlet of Sainte Anne via Crouzet Migette. On the way up to the latter you pass the domaine of Migette where once stood a convent for well-to-do ladies, established in the 12^th century, in which the last of Bonnie Prince Charles Edward Stewart’s direct female descendants is said to have died.

Younger visitors are attracted by the caving, canyoning and climbing facilities, but walking and fishing are probably more popular among older visitors. That said, Nans is also a handy base for hang- and para-gliding, riding, cycling, canoeing and, given enough winter snow, cross-country-ski-ing.

Local walking paths are occasionally a bit steep but never of more than moderate difficulty (or muddier than in the UK). Nans lies on the national network of Grandes Randonnées (long-distance footpaths). One such route takes you several miles down the canyon of the river Lison where you may well not see another soul. Indeed, one can walk similarly for miles in any direction. There are five accessible Belvédères (view points) giving spectacular views over the village and the valley. One such is by the remains of the Château of Sainte Anne. One rather strenuous (but rewarding) walk takes you up more than 1,400 ft from the cottage to Montmahoux (Holly Mountain) from which the views (including of Mont Blanc, 100 miles away, on the right day) cover 360 degrees and are stunning. To cover all of the Belvédères in one day is perfectly feasible for the fit. It involves a 25km walk and about 700 metres (in total) of ‘Up’.

And I should also mention that the local Canton organises a regular annual programme of summer walks which would enable you to discover some of the less well-known local points of interest in the company of knowledgeable local walkers.

Fishing is a popular local pastime, the trout and grayling being much sought after. A family of the latter occupies the pool at the end of my garden! A daily or weekly permit, as well as tackle, can be obtained without difficulty in season (March-September). 

Caving and Canyoning are particularly convenient from Nans. There are more than 30 possibilities in the area. Perhaps the best-known are the Verneau system and the Grotte de Chauveroche (at nearby Ornans). The former is a 16 mile network to which the Verneau (the little stream that passes the end of my garden) provides access. It is said to be the 6^th most extensive system in France and the 6^th longest A to B system in Europe. It is accessible by a short walk from the village activities centre where guides and equipment are available by arrangement.

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The cliff-face route of the Via Ferrata behind the Maison Rose

The village activities centre keeps equipment for canoeing, but you may prefer to indulge in the valley of the River Loue valley 20 minutes away where the sport is more organised. Facilities, equipment and tuition (as appropriate) for cycling, horse-riding, donkey-riding, hang- and para-gliding, and cross-country ski-ing, are all available within 15 minutes’ drive of Nans.

For the young, there are also tree-top rope- and walk-way adventure trails nearby.

Seasonal views in front of the Maison Rose 

In the Haut-Jura (High Jura), some 45 minutes from Nans