The forest of Grésigne

The national forest of Grésigne is around 9000 acres of pure liberty. It’s Europe’s biggest forest of sessile oak and a place that is both wild and unique. A rich variety of wildlife lives here and you will often see stags, deer, otters, weasels and more than a hundred different varieties of nesting birds.
The Grésigne provided firewood and some carpentry, wood for the staves used in the cooperage for Gaillac wine, charcoal until the 1950s and wood for the furnaces of the Grésigne glassmakers, the last of whom died out in 1850. The rationally exploited and maintained forest is today a place for big game hunting.
The highest point (Montoulieu, 480m) of the primary era, made of sandstone, gave its name to the Grésigne forest. The surrounding plateaus are from the Jurassic period (secondary era) and are composed of limestone.
The Romans having occupied the Grésigne, there remain oppida (earthen mounds used for defense), vestiges of camps and a Roman road on the territory of Puycelsi.
A protected nature with an exceptional fauna and flora, an enchanting place where reigns the mystery of a great secret, the glassmakers of Grésigne.