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Published: September 5th 2013
Venterol
Mediaeval perched village near NyonsWe left Nyons in search of one of the Routes Remarquables de Drome Provencale. After our GPS took us the wrong way we ended up in the perched village of Venterol, a small extremely quiet town on the side of a hill. The only people around were 4 tall Dutch tourists and a local who screamed into the village in a red Mini Clubman. The village was mediaeval, quite pretty & surrounded by olive trees and vineyards, the main industries in this area. We later found the “remarkable road” via another pretty town called Vinsobres which we’ll revisit in the future.
A decision to explore further the Centre Historique de Nyons led to some unexpected discoveries. We stumbled upon a place called The Scourtinerie where mats (scourtins) and other articles have been made from coconut fibre since 1882. It is the only place left in France still making these mats in the traditional way. A beret-shaped version of the mat was used in the olive oil industry in the past to hold the olives while the oil was squeezed from them. We watched the various stages of the mat-making in progress in the actual workshop and checked out their interesting
museum, opened in June this year.
A walk to the XI Century Chateau Feodal, followed by a stroll up the Rue des Grands Forts led to a very steep hill at the top of which stood the impressive XIIIC La Tour Randonne. These structures were built into the surrounding rock and looked like they would have been very effective defence for the town of Nyons. The tower was converted into a Chapel in 1864 dedicated to Notre Dame de Bon Secours. The statue constructed on top of the tower dominates the skyline of Nyons.
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