Grand Goulet and Trois Commères

Listen to the High-Jura? We’ve heard it all now! But there is no need to strain your ears too much in this rich acoustic landscape. Acoustic sites are characterised by their resonance. A single echo accurately returns the sound you make once. Multiple echoes can be heard when your call is multiplied 4 or 5 times, seemingly losing a syllable with each echo. And lastly, a resounding echo seems to expand in the air, like in a cathedral, before returning to you distorted and changed. Acoustic sites are natural auditoriums. The Grand Goulet site is easily “aroused” by hollering towards Morbier. Why not indulge in this new experience?

This is the most common woodpecker in Europe. In the forests of the Jura, this little streaked woodpecker around the same size as a sparrow, mainly builds its home in deciduous trees. When it leaves its nest, this nest may be reused by many other species such as the Eurasian pygmy owl or the common starling.

Now a famous climbing site, these three limestone monoliths attest to the erosion that has taken place on these bare rocks as a result of a succession of rain, freeze and thaw cycles over thousands of years. 

Here the panorama is split between three distinctive entities: the agricultural landscapes at the bottom of the Bellefontaine valley, the urban and industrial zones in Morez and on the outskirts of Bienne, and the large wooded areas of the Risoux and the reliefs over Morez. (François Wattellier/ Oxalis / ARCADE)

While it is now mainly manufactured in dairy workshops, referred to as “fruitières”, Morbier cheese is originally a “farm cheese” requiring very little milk (60 kg). Its creamy texture is marked by a thin black streak through the middle. Some see this streak as an attempt to copy the blue cheese of Septmoncel, which was very popular at the time; others explain that the curd used to be produced twice daily and was protected from insects thanks to this layer of soot with natural protective properties.

The church’s clock, dated 1840, is a “clock that rings every fifteen minutes and indicates the lunar phase using a small two-toned ball positioned above the main dial. The equation of time was engraved onto the church’s southern facade in 1842 by Pierre Claude Paget. This system was later abandoned with the advent of railways requiring the use of a universal time.” (M.P. Renaud, 2006).

Le plan d'eau des Bruyères est un petit lac aménagé, situé à proximité de la piscine et du camping. La pêche est autorisée en saison pour la truite, le blanc, le brochet, la carpe, la perche, le sandre, le black-bass et la tanche. Elle est gérée par une association. Dans le village de Morbier, à moins d’un kilomètre de cet étang, vous pourrez également découvrir l’église Saint Michel qui conserve de nombreuses traces du passé horloger de Morbier qui est, grâce à la famille Mayet, le lieu de naissance de l’horloge comtoise.Avant 1789 on dénombrait à Morbier plus de 500 forgerons-cloutiers. Sachant cela, on explique mieux l’évolution rapide de notre industrie vers l’horlogerie puis ensuite vers la lunetterie et autres…. Ici, il apparaît nécessaire de préciser que l’horlogerie n’a pas été inventée à Morbier.Déjà depuis des siècles, d’habiles artisans étrangers construisaient des horloges sur commande et sur mesures, qui constituaient des pièces uniques. Les frères MAYET, originaires de Savoie, émigrés vers 1650 dans la région pour fuir les persécutions calvinistes, possédaient des connaissances solides en horlogerie. Installés à Morbier, ils entreprennent la fabrication d’horloges simples, robustes, en y apportant de constantes améliorations, comme l’échappement, de leur invention. Dès 1675, ils mettent au point le système du balancier. Cette horloge se vendra bientôt partout sous le nom de COMTOISE DE MORBIER, d’où sa qualification de « Berceau de l’horlogerie ».A découvrir dans l’église : l'horloge géante comtoise. En extérieur : la méridienne et l’horloge à trois cadrans.