Argilliers A Romanesque

Argilliers A Romanesque chapel and a neoclassical colonnaded funeral chapel dedicated to Saint Louis on the D981 mark the entrance to one of Languedoc's most curious follies, the Château de Castille, the private mania of Froment Fromentès, Baron de Castille (1747-1829). One of the great travellers of his day, the baron was afflicted by a serious case of columnitis in Rome, and on his return to his estates in the Gard he erected over 200 pillars and columns, of which only some 50 survive, incorporated into garden follies, porticoes and hemicycles inspired by Bernini. In 1950 it was purchased by English art critic Douglas Cooper (1911-84), a friend of Picasso who fell in love with the estate. During a visit in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he engraved a frieze on the wall of the loggia. After a 40-year restoration, the Château is for sale at the time of writing. Collias South of Argilliers, down on the banks of the river, Collias has a popular beach, kayak rental and paths going up and down the river from the Pont du Gard to Pont St- Nicolas. The dramatic, wild beauty of the sheer-walled Gardon gorge here inspired an awe of religious proportions in the past, and there are several old hermitages in caves (take a torch with you), one near the Grotte de la Baume (closed mid-Nov-mid-Mar & May-mid-Aug for bat hibernations), with an 11th-century chapel (an hour's walk), and another, the Ermitage de Collias, in a place so beautiful that it has been classed like a historic Sheep wandering the countryside near Pont du Gard monument. People have worshipped here since prehistoric times - there’s a little chapel by the cave, a Roman bridge and fountain dedicated to Minerva. Collias is also the perfect place if you fancy a dip at the village plage, on the left bank of the Gardon, and is a popular place for a swim with both visitors and locals. Further west, the D112 will take you to Pont St-Nicolas, where an impressive 13th century bridge takes the scenic old Nimes-Uzès road over the Gardon gorge. Just above it to the west, the 12th century church of Ste-Anastasie is all that survives of the Priory of St-Nicolas de Campagnac; built with exquisite care, the church is unusually large, sober, pure and empty. Extract from Languedoc- Roussillon, by Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls with Jane Falkner, published by Bradt (bradtguides.com) in paperback, £18.99 (ISBN 9781804692806) 22 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 23