Alpine pastures along the ridges

Also called the “vacherin” of the High Doubs, the Mont d’Or is a soft, lightly pressed cheese. To receive the controlled designation of origin, it is made from 15 August to 15 March, at over 700 m of altitude in a geographical area delimited by the Doubs’ source, the Swiss border and the Saut du Doubs. Made from the raw milk of Montbéliarde cows, once removed from the mould, its curd is surrounded by a spruce “strap”, made from the soft area of the tree between the bark and the sapwood. During maturation, it is rubbed with salted water and turned on a daily basis for at least 3 weeks, before being inserted in a spruce box.

A true “botanical garden”, the high-altitude lawns of the Mont d’Or ridge are home to exceptional floral diversity. Rare flowers, such as the Pulsatilla alpina or the Nigritella have found refuge here. As part of a rational development policy, this exceptional site has been classed a Sensitive Natural Area by the Département of Doubs and has also been included in the European network of protected Natura 2000 sites. These classifications aim to reconcile human activities with environmental sensitivities, thereby allowing to protect and highlight the area whilst ensuring the territory’s economic viability. To find out more, visit: www.doubs.fr/index.php/les-espaces-naturels-sensibles.

In the pastures below the Mont d’Or, deep blue trumpet flowers draw the eye. The Stemless Gentian (or Kock’s Gentian) is a species whose rarity equals its beauty. It owes its name (acaulis = “stemless”) to its very short stem. It blooms quite early in the season; the months of May or June should be preferred to be lucky enough to see one. Be careful, this is a protected species in the Franche-Comté region, hikers must therefore content themselves with observing them, and must not pick them! Here, it can be found with its very similar cousin, the Clusus Gentian. To tell the difference, you will need a lot of patience.

In the Jura Arc, men have designed areas in which cattle farming and the exploitation of wood coexist, shaping distinctive landscapes and particular biodiversity: woodlands. A symbol of this coexistence, “spinning top” spruces owe their unique form to the teeth of livestock. To survive their grazing, the tree reacts with a thick branching, mirroring a tree shaped like a bonsai.

Between the end of May and the end of September, it’s the summer season. However, on this cheese-making mountain, there are almost no milking cows still in the alpine pasture. These pastures have become home mainly to heifers, young females that have not yet calved. The production of Comté and of Morbier happens “at the bottom”, in the valley. And although the Mont d’Or mountain bears the name of another famous cheese, it is only during the long Jura winter, in the stables, that cows produce the milk for this specific cheese.

The Saint-Sylvestre parish church was built between 1860 and 1863 to replace the old church which was built in 1445 and had become too small to accommodate all of Longeville’s inhabitants. Its construction was completed thanks to Napoleon III’s gift of 5000 francs and Jacques Séraphin Lanquetin’s contribution of 4000 francs, with the latter having been born in Longeville and working as a wine trader in Paris where he is elected a member of parliament in 1852. The 25-meter high bell tower of this imposing structure houses two monumental bells, one named “Marie” weighing 1,500 kg and the other named “Anne” weighing 1,100 kg. Both were made in Morteau by Etablissement Bournez in 1857.

Cattle only grazes in the hayfields from autumn. Vegetation is left to grow during the good season and then the meadow is mowed once or twice depending on the weather to build up hay reserves for the livestock in the winter. These meadows are home to a wide range of plants and particularly flowers which give colour to the High-Jura agricultural landscape. There is a national environmental “competition” called “the flowered meadows” which encourages farmers to promote this diversity, particularly by adjusting the dates on which they mow their fields.