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The
landscapes
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| Landscapes shaped by Men |
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Men have
always known how to take advantage of the natural resources. Therefore these resources have been part of giving shape to the scenery for centuries. Farmers, forest wardens, potters, tile makers, carpenters etc.. have been able to shape an environment of quality. The traditional habitat is its most remarkable illustration
. Indeed, timbered framed houses and tiled roofs are part of the beauty of the landscape.
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| The
Chalky Champagne |
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| On the eastern side stretches the " Chalky Champagne", which used to be named after a small wild plant growing eveywhere called " pouliot ". That plant was particularly loved byt he herds of starving sheeps...
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| Today, only some patches of woods and fallow lands, or old drinking ponds preserved within the villages, reveal this old pastoral activity.
the chalky Champagne became a rich and productive agricultural area, where man seems to have outstripped nature.
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| The
Champagne wetlands |
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The
heart of the Park feeds on clay, born from the
alluvial deposits of a former depression of the
Parisian Basin. Water can be seen on the surface
everywhere... The ancient Forêt du Der ("Oak
" in Celtic) used to spreads up to here. Cleared progressively,
put in culture or pierced with mysterious ponds
by monks from local abbeys, the forest massifs
and woods still covers close to 20,000 hectares,
where oaks and hornbeam ally to reign as
masters.
More than 70 ponds still exist, real aquatic gardens
that Men have sown with carps, pikes and roaches, to
harvest their fruits in the autumn, by the use
of ancestral methods.
In the former glades, stock raising had its golden
age and vast meadows dotted with thickets , pollarded
willow hedges and majestic oaks still line today
rivers and streams, yielding little by little
to the advance of contemporary cultures. The villages,
jewels of traditional architecture, are hemmed
with traditional orchards , real reservoirs of
old local varieties. |
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| Aube valley and the Barrois plateau |
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In the East of the Park, the river Aube firstly cuts through the Barrois plateau, a vast cultivated plateau furrowed with ancient valleys, called "dry". These small hills accommodate prestigious vineyards with here and there thickets of trees and limestone grasslands. Whilst descending towards the river Seine, the Aube winds in loops between wooded banks, with some steep cliffs, then upt north, crosses calmly the vast alluvial plain near Brienne-Le-Château . |
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