Mas d'Auphan

SELF-CATERING ACCOMMODATION IN THE HEART OF THE CAMARGUE

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Mas d'Auphan is an old farm (“mas” = Provencal farm) and is secluded, peaceful and truly rural. It is our home, so the atmosphere is quiet and friendly.

We are about 30 km south of Arles and 6 km from the little village of Le Sambuc, well off the beaten track, so a car is almost essential, although we have had bicycling visitors. We are in the heart of the Camargue (beware - not Carmargue!) a Parc Naturel Régional, not the same as a national park, rich in local tradition which holds many attractions for nature lovers. It is a land of pink flamingos, white horses and black bulls, and a Mecca for ornithologists. There are many rewarding walks.

The Park covers more than 80,000 hectares of the Rhône delta. At its centre is a National Nature Reserve, a mosaic of lagoons covering over 13,000 hectares representing one of the most important wetlands in Europe. The NNR was listed in 1977 as a Biosphere reserve under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere programme. The MAB reserve is being revised to cover a much larger area (click here for details).

Le Sambuc (5 min) has a small grocery, a church, bars/restaurants, a post-office, bread and the papers. Salin de Giraud (10 min.), on the way to the beach, offers a wider range of facilities. Full shopping (hypermarché and supermarkets, agents for most cars, etc.) is to be found in Arles which has a street market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Arles has both Protestant and Catholic churches. It also manages its own nature reserve, the Marais du Verdier- you are welcome to visit it.

For beach lovers (20 min.) there is more sand than the Walrus and the Carpenter could imagine, some crowded and the remoter parts deserted. Some beaches are officially naturist (nudist). There is a public tennis court in Le Sambuc (converted to a swimming pool in July/August) and Arles has a wider range of sports facilities including indoor swimming pools. Riding (promenade à cheval) is widely available.

In Arles (25 min.) and surrounding towns (Montpellier, Aix-en-Provence, Nîmes, Avignon etc.) there is a wealth of cultural attractions - concerts, fine arts, festivals, discos, traditional events - according to season. There are enough museums and historical sites, from pre-Roman to modern, to satisfy the insatiable. Arles features on UNESCO's World Heritage list because of its impressive Roman monuments.

The sunny Mediterranean summer is well known. Winters are usually mild and pleasant. Extreme cold occurs, but rarely. A dry NNW wind, the Mistral, is characteristic, particularly in spring. Autumn and even more so spring are idyllic - fine days, moderate warmth, few insects, few tourists, birds on migration in abundance - and low-season rates!

BIRDS - SELF-CATERING - GITES - HORSES - BEACHES - WINDSURFING - BIRDWATCHING - KITE-SURFING - GARDEN - RIDING - FLAMINGOS -TRANQUILITY

Mas d'Auphan, Le Sambuc, 13200 ARLES, France

tel. +33 490 972041 - e-mail mas-auphan@wanadoo.fr