Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Aiguebelle

Montjoyer

Its name says it all: Aqua bella, "the beautiful waters". On 26 June 1137, Cistercian monks from Morimond, in Champagne, settled in this remote valley of the Drôme provençale where three streams meet, on land given by the lord Gontard Loup. Within a few decades the abbey's influence spread: its granges stretched as far as the foothills of the Vivarais, and it was founding daughter abbeys from 1167. Then came the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War and the slow haemorrhage of vocations: in 1791, the Revolution drove out no more than three monks from a half-ruined monastery. The resurrection came in 1815, when Trappists who had survived the revolutionary upheavals bought back the estate: by 1850 they numbered 233, and the abbey became one of the most populous in France, with a spinning mill, a chocolate works and a distillery — the origin of the famous Eyguebelle syrups and liqueurs, now made in the neighbouring village. The 12th-century Romanesque church, stripped bare as Cîteaux requires, is still there, raised to the rank of minor basilica in 1937. Some twenty monks still live the rule of "ora et labora" here: eight offices a day, the first beginning around 3.30 in the morning. The visitor who pushes open the door of the abbey church at the hour of Vespers hears the same chant that has risen from this valley for almost nine centuries. All around, a shaded path circles the "beautiful waters" that anchored prayer here.

Getting there : Between Montélimar and Grignan, 4500 route d'Aiguebelle (communes of Montjoyer and Réauville). Coordinates given for the start of the family walking loop at the foot of the abbey (approach point). Surroundings, abbey church and monastery shop open to visitors; video room on monastic life, 1½-hour waymarked trail around the abbey. Sung offices open to all, from Vigils (3.30–4 am) to Compline; monastic guesthouse by reservation (04 75 98 64 72).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound