The Palais Ideal in Hauterives, south of Lyon, is one of France’s most curious attractions. Built by postman, Le Facteur Cheval, in the late 19th and early 20th century, it made the start to a fascinating journey around this relatively unknown area of south-east France. For The Times, 3rd March 2018.
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Grottoes and towers — the palace built by a postman
The spectacular countryside south of Lyons is home to a magnificent folly
I am in the middle of nowhere in southeast France, trying to get my head around a bewildering 19th-century edifice built by a postman. At first glance it could be the work of Gaudí; at second look maybe a Khmer or Balinese temple; and on third examination a pottery project that just got out of hand. One thing is for certain — there is no easy way to sum up the wonders contained in the Palais Idéal: there are mythical creatures and mysterious grottoes, Egyptian temples and Swiss chalets.
In many ways this hotchpotch of the weird and wonderful represents the area I’ve just spent a few days exploring. Here in the hills and mountains south of Lyons, part of the quiet Dauphiné region, there has been a surprise at every turn, be it spectacular scenery, delicious food or fascinating stories — of which the tale of the Palais Idéal tops the bill.
The story goes that, after a difficult life, Ferdinand Cheval got a job as a postman in Hauterives and would walk the surrounding hills on his 20-mile daily round. One day, in April 1879, he stumbled on a stone that gave him a compulsion to build a magical palace. He was inspired by the nature around him, as well as the journals and postcards that he delivered on his rounds, depicting far-flung countries through the new medium of photography. Using stones that he collected by wheelbarrow, he created biblical scenes, giants and a medieval castle, along with grottoes, staircases and towers.
As I stand baffled, staring at the 10m-by-26m monument, Marie-José Georges, director of the visitor centre, explains its intricacies: “There are griffins here, a small dog over there, a little cubbyhole for his wheelbarrow . . .” she says, darting around, pointing this way and that. “It’s a kind of naive art. There are creatures that he just created from his imagination.”
In the 1960s, against the wishes of civil servants (most of whom believed it to be the work of a madman), the culture minister André Malraux classified the palace as a historical monument. “Even before this, André Breton, the father of surrealism, made a pilgrimage here, as did Max Ernst and Pablo Picasso,” Georges says. “They said that Cheval had invented surrealism before them.”
Cheval wished to be buried in the Palais Idéal, but when authorities forbade it he built his own extraordinary tomb in the leafy parish cemetery, where his magnificent resting place stands out above the other graves and tombs.
As well as this man-made wonder, there are also jaw-dropping natural sights in the region. The Vercors Massif range, to the south of the Palais Idéal, juts out of the low-lying landscape like a fortress, its mighty plateaux growing ever more imposing as you draw near.
Leaving Lyons, I had approached it via one of the most spectacular routes in France — the A49 motorway that links Voiron to Valence — where I spent the entire journey with my mouth agape. The mountains of the Chartreuse regional park and the Vercors next to it loomed large over the road. The stories I had read of white-cloaked monks creating the herbal elixir chartreuse and of Second World War Resistance fighters hiding out in those mysterious ravines made the mountains somehow magical.
I arrived at Pont-en-Royans with the village drenched in midday sun, its ramshackle timber-and-stone houses dating from the Middle Ages hanging precariously over the gorge. Lunch at the restaurant adjoining the village’s museum was a simple affair, the local speciality being ravioles du Royans — tiny meat and vegetable ravioli, brought to the area by Italian migrants centuries ago.
After a post-lunch stroll around the village, it was time to take the winding route into the mountains. More spectacular views emerged, with the incredible Cirque de Bournillon cliff face and the Moulin Marquis waterfall, tumbling over the rust and silver-coloured strata into the forest below.
The journey continued farther into the mountains, skirting the River Bourne as it rolled down its gorge. I crossed it at Les Granges, zigzagging my way up to the plateau and green pastures that surround Saint-Martin-en-Vercors, where a line of motorcyclists zoomed past, enjoying the open road. Somewhere ahead of these was a dramatic road to Vassieux-en-Vercors, where Resistance fighters saw off the occupying Germans and declared the Free Republic of Vercors in 1944. But I was going an even more impressive way.
Like many of the roads into the Vercors, the Combe Laval road was chiselled out of the rock in the 19th century for moving timber. As I skirted around a ledge punctuated by arches and tunnels, my heart was in my mouth — a small wall separated us from a fall of 1,000 metres. Yet the view of a perfect panorama across the mountains was worth the stress.
Going downhill I passed through walnut groves basking in late-afternoon sun and arrived at Domaine Mayoussier, a small organic vineyard in Auberives-en-Royans. The owner, Antoine Dépierre, explained how he’d transformed his family’s holiday home into this area’s only vineyard. With three hectares of vines, all maintained by hand with the help of a horse-drawn plough, he has had his work cut out, but is starting to produce some delicious shiraz, syrah and sauvignon blanc wines.
The next day I went back into the mountains to find further marvels. The Grotte de Choranche was discovered in the 1870s and, unlike in other cave complexes, the stalactites are ghostly white tubes that hang in their hundreds from the cave roof over an azure underground lake. “People say it’s like spaghetti,” said my guide, Laurent. “But the Italian migrants here said: ‘No, it’s macaroni!’ ”
Elsewhere galleries feature layered stalagmite statues and formations that look like seaweed or grotesque fungus. Some resemble parts of statues from southeast Asian temples, not unlike those at the Palais Idéal. In the centre of the largest opening, a huge tank contains some tiny proteus — bizarre blind aquatic salamanders with colourless bodies.
It all reminds me of Cheval’s creations. We don’t know if he ever visited Choranche, but if he had he would have seen that exotic wonders lay closer to home than those depicted in the journals and postcards that he delivered.
Need to know
Carolyn Boyd was a guest of Flybe (flybe.com) from Birmingham to Lyons, with Holiday Autos (holidayautos.com) providing car hire.
For more information on the area visit vercors-pontenroyans.com and ladrometourisme.com
Where to stay
Le Cours de Loges in Lyons is a luxury hotel with a restaurant, bar and spa. Doubles cost from €190 (£168) a night (00 33 4 72 77 44 44, courdesloges.com)
Le Val de Sens chambres d’hôtes at Chatte (20 minutes from Pont-en-Royans) has three rooms, a hot tub and a mountain view. Doubles cost from €85 (00 33 6 50 39 69 30, le-val-des-sens.fr)
Les Hauts de Choranche, opposite Cabane Café, has four cosy gîtes with wooden floors and stone walls. Gîtes for four cost from €100 a night or from €420 a week (00 33 4 76 38 90 50, cabanecafe.com)
Maison Pic at Valence is the HQ of the three-Michelin-star chef Anne-Sophie Pic, with her gourmet restaurant, lively bistro and luxury hotel. Doubles cost from €280 (00 33 4 75 44 15 32, anne-sophie-pic.com)
