Mont Aigoual

Mont Aigoual tops out at 1,565 metres and marks the high point of the Cévennes, on the border of the Gard and the Lozère. From the property you climb up the valley, and the drive counts as much as the arrival: in an hour or so you pass from Mediterranean causse to high beech woods, with a change in vegetation and temperature you can feel distinctly.

At the summit stands the weather observatory, a massive stone building put up at the end of the nineteenth century and for a long time one of the most exposed staffed stations in France. It now houses an exhibition on meteorology and climate that holds children and adults about equally, and on a clear day the panoramic terrace gives views to the Mediterranean on one side and, on the very best days, to the Alps or the Pyrenees on the other.

The massif is also remarkable walking country. The Aigoual forests are the result of an enormous reafforestation programme begun in the 1870s to halt erosion on the slopes, and what you walk through today is a forest entirely shaped by that undertaking. Several loops start from the summit or the neighbouring passes, from an hour’s stroll to a full day.

Bring warm clothes whatever the season. The Aigoual is known for its wind and for how fast the weather turns: you can leave the property in shorts at thirty degrees and find yourself in cloud at ten. That is exactly what makes the drive up worthwhile in high summer.

For a group this is the full-day excursion of the list, and the only one that really requires an early start and either a picnic or a planned stop along the way.