Location

Getting here: 

Good motorway access from the north. Calais is just over 600 miles.

Bargain flights go to Marseille (the nearest), Nice, Nimes, Montpellier, Lyons and Grenoble. (Cheapest return flight to date; one penny!) You will need transport to enjoy Les Granges but car hire is inexpensive.

Cyclists; consider the European Bike Express or contact us for help.

To see us on the map, take a line from Marseille to Grenoble and just above half distance lies Laragne-Monteglin.  West by about 8km and north by about 6km you’ll find Orpierre: Etoile St Cyrice is 6km north west of there.

(Longitude 5 deg. 38’ East, Latitude 44 deg 19’ North, altitude 900 metres.) 

When to come; April to mid October are likely to be ‘shorts and T-shirts’ with the high summer months hot! However, the massive stone walls and shuttered windows are well adapted to provide natural cool relief and the altitude eliminates mugginess. Autumn is just exquisite with blazing reds, yellows and golds in the vast hillside forests all around. Winters tend to be bright and clear but with crisp chilly air and cold clear nights. (The woodburners are great fun, cosy and romantic.)  We have found that around Easter and again in late October/early November there seems to be the risk of a transition period during which low cloud can sit on the area on and off for a week or two. Astronomers shouldn’t forget that, in skies like these, a full moon brings near-daylight conditions all night. Contact us for advice on the best observing possibilities.

click to enlarge map

Etoile St Cyrice village

Orpierre