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Natural sites and gardens

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  • Panorama of the Swiss Jura

    Panorama of the Swiss Jura

  • Winkel beech avenue

    Winkel beech avenue

Located on the municipal bench of Ligsdorf in the national forest of Saint-Pierre-Lucelle, the Allée des Hêtres is made up of a remarkable alignment in several respects: number (around 40), age (over 150 years), shape and dimensions beeches (28 m high and 3m in circumference on average) as well as the regularity of the alignment.

A circuit marked "yellow ring" allows you to make a loop of 6 km for 160m of vertical drop. It takes 1 hour 30 minutes to walk from the Charrière car park.

Landscape and historical interest of the site. Without doubt also one of the most beautiful views of the Alsatian Jura on the neighboring Swiss Jura.
Text: Philippe MERCKLE

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  • Morimont oak

    Morimont oak

  • Morimont oak

    Morimont oak

This is, to the authors' knowledge, the largest and oldest oak in Haut-Rhin. Despite its exceptional size (nearly 7 m in circumference), it is in fairly average health condition due to its age and the growth of a spruce forest around it.

Its great age and its initial spreading shape shows that this oak was born and lived in an open pasture context that turned into a forest a few decades ago. This oak tree is on private forest land but is clearly visible from the forest path.

This tree experienced the Peasants 'War and was already vigorous during the Thirty Years' War. To note in the immediate vicinity of the site, the beautiful ruins of the Castle of Morimont.

Oberlarg

Called large oak or Napoleon oak, this tree at great age, perhaps 400 or even 500 years old, was already spotted in 1912 by foresters as a remarkable tree.

The lightning twice in 1988, the storm in 1999 and the drought in 2003 led the foresters to maintain this remarkable sessile oak which in the past measured 25 m high whereas today it is only 12 .

Sondersdorf
  • Oberlarg pasture beech

    Oberlarg pasture beech

The 5 subjects proposed are isolated trees in a pasture located to the west of the Ebourbettes farm. Remarkably large with low horizontal branches, these trees are of great aesthetic interest. Note in particular the first on the right which is part of a square (33m high and 33m crown). The Swiss border is a few tens of meters away and you can meditate at the beautiful oratory behind the farm.
Oberlarg

Designed in 2009 by the Friends of the Château de Ferrette, the medieval garden of "Courtil de St Fiacre" is made up, as in the Middle Ages, of squares, each of which has a very specific vocation: square of herbs, medicinal plants, legumes or even magic plants ...

The organization of the garden scrupulously respects the indications provided by the Capitulary of Charlemagne or even by the plan of St Gall.


Possibility of guided tour of the garden for groups.
Ferrette
The Mil'Feuilles garden was created 7 years ago by Benjamin Hoffmann. It now houses more than 1200 varieties of plants on just over 3000m2 with several atmospheres on offer: Japanese-inspired garden, forest garden, meadow garden, perennial garden, etc.
Something to discover the magic of plants and nature in a very natural setting.
The whole garden is worked in a very strong ecological approach.
A nursery is present at the end of the visit for those who want to spruce up their garden. Plants are produced with garden plants or home grown seedlings/cuttings. Perennials, a few rare shrubs, hops and a few tomato plants (35 varieties) will be on offer.
We look forward to welcoming you to the garden.

Open Saturdays and Sundays from May 1 to September 30, 2024.
Ferrette
  • Cave of the Dwarfs of FERRETTE

    Cave of the Dwarfs of FERRETTE

  • Cave of the Dwarfs of FERRETTE

    Cave of the Dwarfs of FERRETTE

The Dwarven Cave is above all a place of legend where can be practiced climbing.

The rocks of the Cave of the Dwarves form an impressive gorge about 25 meters high called Erdwibalaschlucht (the parade of the little women of the earth) and formed by the working of water in the karst limestone. According to legend, these little women of the earth lived with the Erdmanala (little men of the earth) inside the Cave of the Dwarves. Located at the bottom of the gorge, the cave takes on the appearance of a slit that opens in the rock wall and continues through two guts, all developed over about fifteen meters.

Above the gorge, you can access the Plateau des Nains. From there, we have a beautiful view of the Ill valley and the villages of Bouxwiller, Werentzhouse. The place also bears the name of Erdwibalafelsen (Roche aux Fées).

2 possible accesses:
- park in the parking lot of the Communauté de Communes in Ferrette (3A route de Lucelle) and take the red diamond path along the road towards Sondersdorf. Allow 30 to 35 minutes to access the cave (1,8km).

- park in the Keucht car park located in the forest. Take the direction of Sondersdorf and, a little before leaving the village, take the forest path on your left indicated by a wooden sign "Sentier des Nains". Continue to the car park located a few hundred meters further on. From the car park, count 15-20min walk on a beautiful path accessible by 4X4 stroller.

Ferrette
  • View of Burg and the Alsatian Jura

    View of Burg and the Alsatian Jura

  • View from the Raemelsberg tower in Wolshcwiller

    View from the Raemelsberg tower in Wolshcwiller

In the heart of the Alsatian Jura, the Wolschwiller State Biological Reserve is a real open-air laboratory. Remote limestone cliffs, rare species, breathtaking view of a magnificent landscape.

Its geographical location allows for cross-border management with Switzerland, giving it a much greater ecological importance than the 67 ha located on the municipal district of Wolschwiller.

It concentrates quite original environments for Alsace, in particular cliffs and exceptional limestone rocky outcrops. The fauna, and in particular the avifauna, is represented by rare species including the eagle owl, the peregrine falcon and the common raven.

No less than 350 plant species have been identified to date. Several are protected at the regional level: Mountain Alysson (Alyssum montanum), Cretan Athamante (Athamanta cretensis), Sheathing Coronilla. Other species without protection status are notable, in particular a moss, Grimmia teretinervis which had never been recorded in the region.

Careful silviculture is carried out around these cliffs to avoid cover closures. The conservation of many dead and hollow woods, essential in terms of biodiversity and good environmental balance, has already been practiced for many years.

The reserve also shelters remarkable trees of which a Scots pine at least 200 years old stands on a steep cliff which dominates the village of Wolschwiller. Clinging directly to the rock, this twisted pine with the appearance of Bonzaï has, in living memory, not changed a branch.

Under this cliff is a cave which, it is said, housed the village priest Joseph Enderlin, a refractory priest who continued to minister clandestinely in the region after the French Revolution. Attention, unsecured site, do not approach the edge!

Wolschwiller
The Tagolsheim lawn, on the southern slope of the Buxberg, marks a surprising break with the landscape of this part of the Sundgau. Marginal land for agriculture, the dry lawns that dot this hill were traditionally used for extensive livestock farming. They constitute very privileged environments for orchids (10 species), butterflies (45 different species) and birds (57 species). This area has been well known to Haut-Rhin naturalists since the turn of the century. In addition to the richness of the dry lawns on the outskirts, there is a remarkable woody flora for our region: boxwood, pubescent oak.
Tagolsheim
The gardener started this garden in 1989 and since then has not stopped transforming it, enriching it and doing botanical experiments.

It is a 40-acre promenade garden that is both structured and wild, abundant and full of nooks and crannies where it is good to recharge your batteries in the middle of a great diversity of plants, trees, shrubs, perennials, rose bushes, ferns.

Open from June 1 to October 31, the 3rd Sunday and Monday from 14 p.m. to 19 p.m. (free or guided tour of your choice). Outside of these hours, you can visit the garden by appointment. Check our website for schedules before coming as there may be changes.
Bernwiller

To the right of the castle of Hirtzbach, Charles de Reinach had arranged, in the 19th century, an English garden, populated with beeches, ash trees, pines and other rarer trees under our skies including a pedunculate oak registered in the supplementary inventory historical monuments. A stream and three ponds where swans and ducks frolic give it a pleasant note of freshness.

Open to the public, the complex houses several buildings including, to the left of the entrance, the last Sundgau ice house, where ice was stored cut from the frozen surface of the ponds.

Opposite the entrance to the park, on the islet called Sainte-Hélène, there is a chalet, the stake, which serves as a wood reserve. Beyond the icebox, another chalet, to the right of the driveway, was used for drying the boards, while the one copied from a model in the canton of Lucerne, at the end of the road, allowed the recovery to be stored.

Hirtzbach

The Nérac ponds are located in the municipalities of Altenach and Saint-Ulrich in the Sundgau. Dating from the 5th century, this set of 70 ponds, about twenty hectares, constitutes a transitional environment between the beech forest and cultivated fields. Operated until the 1990s, they were then sold to the Haut-Rhin General Council in the early 4s. Their size and lack of maintenance for several years allowed them to evolve towards greater naturalness, despite their typical morphology of Sundgau fishing ponds. Thus, their steep banks only allowed the installation of a thin curtain of riverine vegetation. Only pond n ° XNUMX had a large reed bed. In addition, the constant water levels and the very low diversity of habitats were not conducive to the exploitation of ponds by a variety of fauna.

 

However, the ornithological monitoring carried out on this site has shown that more than a hundred species of birds use the Nérac ponds, either to nest there or for migratory stopovers. Rare species, such as the penduline remiz, the osprey, the harrier harrier or the common crane have been observed there. In addition, their location between the edge of the forest and openfield gave them significant potential for welcoming biodiversity.

 

A guidebook available at the Maison de la Nature du Sundgau located in Altenach or at the Tourist Office offers you a walk of 2h-2h30 to discover this site conducive to bird watching.

Altenach
  • Lake Lucelle Nature Reserve

    Lake Lucelle Nature Reserve

  • Lake Lucelle Nature Reserve

    Lake Lucelle Nature Reserve

Nature reserve of the canton of Jura, Lake Lucelle invites you to discover the rich fauna and flora that make it up. You will be able to contemplate duck, mallard and other palmipeds thanks to the gentle and quiet walk of a short half-hour accessible to all (including people with reduced mobility), which is offered to you. This path is adorned with educational panels that will allow you to understand and especially to discover this magnificent site nestled in a green setting between France and Switzerland.

Lucelle
 

The Sundgau on the Networks

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