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The Surroundings : characteristics
The Aigues valley is characterised by the harmony of it’s landscapes which create a setting for compact villages, often perched on top of or backed onto a protective hill ( either in a ring on a round gently rising hillock, or in a more or less fan-shaped pattern on the hilltop, or in a crescent on the sites of rocky cliffs or promontories
The villages are often built in a compact, dense and structured style which allows vast areas for agriculture, thus creating very attractive settings. |
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Houses in Provence are either large two-storey country houses facing south or built-up areas of rows of houses with the streets creating squares which almost always feature a pleasant fountain.
Present day housing in the ‘Pays d’Aigues` is essentially similar to housing in the rest of Provence, that is, mainly grouped housing.
Nevertheless the countryside is certainly not empty ; there are country houses and stone cabins situated
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in the furthermost corners of the land. But the built-upareas are dominant.
The village square retains it’s attractive force by way of it’s political and social role. Visitors are naturally struck by this fact ; this remains an ancient custom, an expression of sociability which has formed generations of people. Something which has been essential for regional life and which remains a reality.
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Distinctive features
of the Aigues valley.
The Aigues valley owes it’s immense charm to the harmonious balance created by the diversity of the countryside with it’s farms and well tended fields, in particular the dessert grapes, wine-making grapes,
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oak groves with truffles, olive tree orchards, fields of melons and cherry trees, woods and forests, rivers and shady valleys in which it’s a pleasure to live or wander through.. |
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