By the River Arre

White-throated dippers are nesting in the bridge’s cavities. These birds look like they are in evening wear: white shirt and dark grey frock coat complete with an elegant tail, short and uplifted. They live in clean waterways with fairly strong currents. Perched on stones sticking out of the water, they inspect the riverbed agitatedly. Also called water ouzels, they can dive and then walk underwater while searching the riverbed for food. In one day, they can dive up to 1,600 times and stay underwater for a cumulative total of two hours.

This natural tuff bridge was described by a Mr Chante in 1933: “a small path leads to the Vézénobre brook, in which blocks of tuff covered in abundant vegetation have formed the moss bridge. The arch carries an irrigation channel, and thousands of crystal-clear drops fall without cease from the vault into the brook which, 50 metres from here, produces five waterfalls”. The whole hillside is tuff rock, which was used to build the neighbouring terrace walls. In the 14th and 15th centuries, a flour mill called Moulin de la Rode stood near the bridge.

The first written mentions of Avèze are as Aveda in 1150 and as Aveza in 1262. Avèze was founded around the year 800 by Benedictine monks. For some authors, its etymology is Aveda (“I salute you, Madam”), words supposedly taught by the priests to the inhabitants who had to say them whenever they passed the image of the Virgin Mary.

Its picturesque lanes with the elegant 18th and 19th-century manor houses used to alternate with spinning mills, farms and apple meadows that covered the valley floor.

The walls of the park surrounding the mediaeval Château de Montcalm border the road. The former fortress was remodelled several times. The fortifications and ramparts were pulled down in 1609. The residence was redesigned in the 18th century and an avenue of cedars planted in the park. In the late 19th century, the roofs bristled with crenellations. It was in the 1930s that the château assumed its current appearance.