Spirit of place

Located on the ancient road linking Trièves to Gapençais on the left bank of the Drac, the hamlet of Les Achards nestles at the foot of Obiou, on the edge of the state-owned forests that surround the Dévoluy massif. Of Germanic and medieval origin, the place name Achards is quite common in these mountains. This small hamlet in Cordéac (municipality of Châtel-en-Trièves) had three houses at the beginning of the 19th century, each with its own bread oven. Two houses and one oven remain, as well as the hamlet’s fountain, fed by one of the Vaucluse-type springs that dot the massif (one of the largest in France, Les Gillardes, is located further south on the mountainside).
In Les Achards, pastures and hay meadows, beech and maple woods, Scots pine and larch form a living, colourful mosaic that changes with the seasons. The land surrounding the hamlet has been terraced to reduce the slope. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, the terrace at the foot of the house was used as a vegetable garden.

With its fish-scale tiles, Genoese roofs, tall chimneys, massive walls and stone vaults, the house features architecture typical of the Trièves region. As was customary in the Haut-Dauphiné region, it originally combined all the functions of a dwelling and a farm under one roof. This old farmhouse, located at an altitude of 920 metres, was built in 1789 and enlarged in the middle of the following century. With almost no windows on the north side to protect its inhabitants from the winter cold, it opens to the east onto the Drac valley, facing the Route Napoléon and the great peaks of the Alps (Taillefer, Écrins). To the south, it embraces a cirque of mountains dominated by the 2789-metre Grande Tête de l’Obiou (Dévoluy massif). Not far to the west stands the Vercors massif.

This oven, built in the mid-19th century, is the last one still standing in the hamlet of Les Achards, which once had three. It also includes two small adjoining spaces, the rear one of which was probably used in the 20th century for drying walnuts. The building was badly damaged when we acquired it in 2023 and the roof structure was in danger of collapsing. It was restored in 2024-2025 by local companies with the support of the Fondation du patrimoine and ADEME. The roof structure was dismantled and then rebuilt identically, replacing the damaged parts with old wood. The roof was re-tiled with old recycled tiles, the collapsed walls were rebuilt with lime mortar, and the dome was re-coated on the inside with refractory mortar and reinforced on the outside. A new wrought iron door was made to replace the old one, which had been lost.
After several decades of neglect, the Achards oven has been brought back to life! Hand-kneaded sourdough bread is baked there for our own consumption and that of our guests. A bicycle storage room has been set up for guests in the first adjoining room, and a dryer for medicinal plants in the second. The restored oven was thus awarded the Heritage Foundation label in 2025.