history of le parage

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The name "Le Parage" comes from the Occitan word "Le Paratge" meaning nobility, so an area formerly designated the quarter of the nobles of the village. To access it, four gates surrounded the district. The square tower, La Tour Sarrasine, on top of the village was, together with the four walls, built in the 12th century by the noble family Villeneuve. When they left the area, this quarter became a poor area,  with neglected buildings. On the picture top right, you see on the left, the building that was there before La Sentinelle was build, on the picture below that, how it looked from the opposite direction towards the tower and the old gate (which is still existing). 

Around 1960, the city of Les Arcs sur Argens, decided to renovate Le Parage, so they sold all the properties for a symbolic amount, but with the condition that the new houses were built all in the same style, and with maximum use of materials from the old buildings.

On the left you see Le Père Clinchard himself, a musician and composer, who gave name to Place du Père Clinchard, the square where La Sentinelle is situated.

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THE SURROUNDINGS

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“Le Parage”, where the house is situated, is a very quiet and charming quarter, with no motor vehicles allowed. Les Arcs has a train station, with connections to for example Paris, Nice and Italy. The house is less than 20 min walk from the station, and approximately one hour drive from Nice Airport. Beside “Le Parage”, where you can spend hours enjoying the beautiful medieval buildings, Les Arcs sur Argens offers a variety of shops, restaurants and cafées and a lively central square, with lots of activities, just 5 minutes on foot from the house. 10 minutes drive from the house, you´ll find the Hyper U, a shopping mall, with a 20.000 m2 big supermarket, where you can find practically everything you need.

The house on the left on the photo is indeed La Sentinelle.

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Furthermore, the area offers a lot of opportunities to explore the beautiful surrounding nature on foot, or by bike or car. A must see, is “Les Gorges du Verdon”, a breath-taking tour with stunning views, only about 45 min by car. Are you looking for waves and sand, the beaches of St. Raphael and Fréjus are only half an hour drive away.  Or go visit the vivid village of Ste. Maxime, and from there take the boat to St. Tropez, where you can enjoy a cup of coffee at the Place des Lices in the shade of the centuries-old sycamore trees.
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If you like a good glass of wine, and especially rosé, Provence is the place to be. It is the oldest wine region in France, and also the national top region of production of rosé wine, due to, among other factors, the optimal climate conditions here. There are numerous wine chateaus in the area, among them Chateau Sainte Roseline (literally around the corner from La Sentinelle), a chateau worth visiting, not only for the delicious wine, but also for the chapel right next to it. In the beautifully restored chapel, you can see Sainte Roseline lying in her glass coffin, and also enjoy a beautiful piece of mosaics by Marc Chagall.

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