Rocbaron

At the village center, beside the large parking area, is the clearly marked Médiathèque (library) that includes the Office de Tourisme. This is a good place to start your visit: get a map of the village and find out a bit about local history and nearby walks.

Just north of the Médiathèque is the Mairie (town hall). One block north of the Mairie, a street to the left, Rue Fernand Gueit, has the Epicerie Chez Tante Anélie where you can get bread and groceries.

A second short block north of the Mairie, on Rue des Faysonnes to the right, is La Terrace, the local café and restaurant.

The "commercial center" of Rocbaron is at the northwest edge of the commune, at the junction of the D81 and D43 roads. Here you'll find things like bakery, hair dressers, fruit and vegetable market, flower shop and a big supermarket.

Stone Ovens

Two ancient stone ovens are located at La Verrerie, an area just over 1 km north of Rocbaron center, to the right (east) of the D12.

A Four à Cade (cade oven) was used to produce cade oil from the cade (prickly juniper) bush. Used from the beginning of the 20th century up until the 1950's, the simple stone cade ovens produced the oil by burning the wood from the bush in the upper part of the oven and extracting the oil from the bottom part.
Cade oil has been popular for its medicinal healing properties and for beauty products. It's considered very good as an antiseptic and disinfectant, and is used in face and hair products.

Nearby is a Four à Chaux (lime kiln). This ancient oven, also from the beginning of the 19th century, was used to convert the natural chalk into lime. With the local hills full of chalk, the fours à chaux were found throughout the region.

St Sauveur Ruins

On a wooded hilltop just southeast of Rocbaron village are the "St Sauveur Ruins". A short hike up from the village visits the ruins and gives you a magnificent view across the land.

About 10 minutes up the trail are the ruins of the ancient chapel. Really just the stone walls of the old building sitting in the trees at the edge of a small clearing. Interesting, but the real ruins are another 10-15 minutes up to the peak.

At the extreme top of the hill sit the stone ruins of 12th-century Saint Sauveur Castle. Enough of the castle walls remain on the eagles-nest site to give a Medieval feeling about it. Across the hills to the northeast, the castle ruins of Forcalqueiret are clearly visible.

Written history of the castle is rather scarce. Study of the stone defenses indicates 11th century, and possibly 10th century. The story of the castle's demise is also verbal and variable. One theory is that the castle was destroyed during local wars. Another, possibly more plausible, is that the isolated site was abandoned for the newer and more accessible castle of Forcalqueiret.

Marcel JEAN's Bakery

A very nice little booklet from the Office de Tourisme tells the story of Marcel JEAN, Boulanger. This excellent baker took over the Rocbaron bakery in 1975. this master baker provided the village with excellent bread from then until sometime after 2006, when our [Photo-06] was taken.

M. Jean's passion for his work can be seen in the decoration of the shop, and the detail of the windmill iconary in the grill [Photo-08].

Today (January 2010) the old bakery has been transformed into an épicerie, but still sells bread.