The Region - Le Var

Le Var, or Var, is situated in the South Eastern corner of France. As a Departement De France, it is bordered byVaucluse to the West, Alpes-de- Haute-Provence to the North and Alpes-Maritimes to the East.

Its famous Mediterranean coastline boasts such famous names as St. Tropez, St. Raphael, Cannes and Nice - the Côte d’Azur. These are all commercial towns or cities and both heavily populated and centres for tourism.

However, just a short drive Northwards from the coastline is the largely undiscovered mountainous region of Haut Var, scattered with villages perchés or ‘perched villages.’ Although this region does attract seasonal tourism, even in high season it is very quiet compared to the coastline.

Local economy is largely ‘cottage industry,’ supplemented in the Summer months by tourism. The tourist input is made by holiday lettings and bar/restaurant sales. However, even in high season the small towns and villages still run as local, provincial communities. The area is still completely untouched by commercialism, other than small, largely agricultural industry.

Illustrating this provincialism is the fact that each small town or village has an elected mayor who has great influence on all activities within that community.

The architecture is almost completely mediaeval in origin and any new building is strictly controlled. Within a 15 kilometre radius in Haut Var, there are picturesque towns such as Fayence, Seillan and Tourettes, each with a compact infrastructure and dotted around the specatcular mountain scenery.