maisonvassiviere

Peat bogs develop in granite basins called alveoli, where the acidic, poor soil provides favourable conditions for their growth. These fragile environments are home to a specific flora composed of very particular primitive plants: sphagnum mosses. The different stages are visible here: low marshes covered with quaking bogs, active raised bogs, and peat heaths bordered by willows and birches.

Chassagnas, of Latin origin, Cassania or Gallic Cassanus, refers to the oak tree. Chassagnas consists of a wooded slope down to the edge of Lake Vassivière and a partially cleared summit offering a 180° view of the lake.The Chassagnas peninsula, jutting out into the heart of Lake Vassivière, forms the boundary between Creuse and Haute-Vienne. Together with its twin, the Puy du Rocher, which overlooks Vauveix, it acts as a barrier between the lake's two main bays.

Located on the Millevaches plateau, Lac de la Vaud-Gelade is an artificial lake, created between 1940 and 1944, with a surface area of 300 hectares. It is fed by the Thaurion and several streams. It is used for electricity production. Its earthen dam with a granulite foundation holds 21 million cubic metres of water, which feeds Lac de Vassivière, depending on its water needs, through a 4km-long underground tunnel.

The dam is complemented by the Auchaise dyke, which seals off a depression in the ground on the right bank about 400m from the main structure. This reservoir also receives water diverted from the upper basins of the Taurion (La Vaud-Gelade), Vienne, Dorat and Chandouille (Faux-la-Montagne) rivers.

The village of Royère-de-Vassivière was established on a strategic pass on the Millevaches plateau, at the crossing point of a prehistoric ridge path. The ridge paths (or pouges) allowed people to travel long distances. They favoured the granite peaks of the rounded hills, called Puy or Peux, and avoided the damp, peaty valley bottoms that only cattle frequented.

Discover the local heritage (crosses, fountains, wells...) and the skills of our ancestors.

At the foot of the highest peaks of the Plateau de Millevaches, set off to discover the small village of Pallier.

Faux-la-Montagne owes its name to its high altitude (over 700 metres above sea level) on the western edge of the Millevaches plateau. Around Lake Faux, beech and oak trees mingle with conifers, occupying what was still sheep pasture in the 19th century.