Château de Valon

Since the 14th century the Château de Valon, in the Aveyron, has overlooked the Truyère gorges, in a grandiose setting. Standing on its rocky ridge, it towers over the schist village with its bread oven and stone-slab roofs. The castle, on a narrow rock above the village of the same name and the river Truyère, existed at least in the 13th century.

During the Hundred Years' War (1336-1453) Valon was occupied by routiers, bands of demobilised soldiers who lived off the land, holding it to ransom from the castles they had seized. By the Revolution the poorly maintained castle was described as a hovel. It then served as a quarry for building the village (between 1864 and 1900). Consolidation and restoration work began only in the 1930s and is still continuing. Open to visitors: the keep, three rooms, the terrace and the chapel.

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