La Garde-Freinet

Towns and Villages - by Provence Beyond

Villages > La Garde-Freinet      

Nearby:  | Brignoles 46 km | Cannes 87 km | Cogolin 13 km | Collobrières 33 km | Draguignan 35 km | Fréjus 42 km | Gonfaron 20 km | Grimaud 10 km | Hyères 54 km | Plan-de-la-Tour 10 km | Saint Raphaël 45 km | Saint Tropez 20 km | Sainte Maxime 22 km | Toulon 74 km | Turtle Village 18 km |

Below: | Fountain and Lavoir | History | O.T. | Dates | Wine | Transportation | Hiking | Dining | Lodging Hotels |

The town has two distinctive halves. The older part of town is around the 16th-century St.Clément church, with an 18th-century campanile. This part of town has the narrow little streets, sometimes carved through solid rock. The "newer" part of town has wider streets and 19th-century houses.

The town sits beside the D558, one of the main roads between the A8 autoroute and the seaside resorts around St Tropez. It's a nice place to stop, and it's a good location for visiting the Maures, either by the twisty little roads or the hiking trails that go off through the forested hills.

The town is quiet from October to April, then in May the tourist traffic begins building up for the summer. The surrounding hills of the Massif des Maures, stretching out 30 km to the southwest and 20 km to the northeast, are forested with oak and cork oak. The area near the town has chestnut groves (châtaigneraies), and chestnut jam (confiture marron) and chestnut honey (miel châtaignier) are among the local products you can get at the Confiturerie des Gambades shop in town.

Fountain and Lavoir

There are a number of nice fountains in the village, but the most interesting is La Fontaine Vieille [Photo-15]. This was once La Garde-Freinet's only fountain [in the 18th-19th centuries?], and the information plaque states that it was fully restored in 1812.

At the corner of the buildings across from the Old Fountain is a very nice old lavoir [Photo-16]. Called simply Le Lavoir, it was fed by the water from the Old Fountain. The lavoir was covered in 1791 and refurbished, along with the fountain, in 1812.

History

Name
First record, 13th century Fraxinetum Guardia

Fraxinet was the name of the region and Le Freinet was the village. The original Provencal inhabitants called the village La Gardi. Fraxinet was a Saracen word, with Fraxinetum Guardia possibly meaning guard of the forest.

Prehistoric: Chalcolithic sepultures were found at the Baume des Maures, in a cavern at the foot of the hill below the château.

Gallo-Roman: Gallo-Roman remains were found at La Mourre, and at St. Clément, 1 km southeast. A Roman road passed by the town.

Medieval: The Saracens built the fortress here at the end of the 8th century, and used it as a base to ravage Provence for the next 200 years. In 973, Count William defeated the Saracens and took La Garde Freinet. In 1076 it became a fief of St-Fulcher. In the 14th century, the town was ravaged by the troops of Raymond de Turenne; it became part of the domain of the Pontevès, and was repopulated by Jean de Pontevè. The château was razed in 1589 by order of Maréchal de La Valette.

Office de Tourisme

Chapelle St. Jean, Place de la Mairie

Tel : 0494 43 67 41; Fax: 04 94 43 08 69

Web: www.lagardefreinet-tourisme.com

Open: 9h30-12h30, 14h-18h; closed Sun, Mon

Dates

Market: Every Wed, Sun morning - Marché Provencal

Foire: 3rd Sun - Brocante (Apr-Oct)

Fete: Apr - Fête de la transhumance

Fete: Oct - Fete de la Chataigne - Chestnut Festival; every October, Sundays

Wine

La Garde-Freinet is in the region of the Côte de Provence wines.

Transportation

Bus

Two buses a day (except Sunday and holidays) connect La Garde-Freinet with Grimaud. At Grimaud, you change for the St Tropez, St Raphaël, Toulon bus. Toulon and Fréjus are on the mail rail line, that connects Beyond with Lyon and Paris to the north and Monaco and Italy to the east.

Departure for Grimaud: 7h30 and 13h30 (contact the Office de Tourisme for the most current schedule).

Hiking

Maps:

IGN (1/25,000) #3545 OT "St. Tropez, Ste. Maxime, Massif des Maures"

Michelin "green (1/100,000) #114 "French Riviera - Var"

Didier Richard (1/50,000) #25 "Maures Haut-Pays Varois"

The GR 9 (Grande Randonnée) passes through La Garde-Freinet.
• To the east, the GR9 begins by following roads (D75, etc.) out across the Maures. About 8 km out, the GR 9 joins the GR51 Balcony of the Cote d'Azur ; here you can go south on the GR51 to Grimaud and Cogolin or southeast on the GR9/GR51 to Port Grimaud.
• Leaving town to the south, the GR9 turns west and goes through the forested Maures, south of Les Mayons to the famous mountain-top site of Notre-Dame des Anges, south of Gonfaron. Further west the GR9 goes to Pignans and Carnoules, and branching trails, including the GR90, explore the southwestern part of the Maures.

Camping

Dining

There are a lot of good restaurants in La Garde-Freinet, many of them with outdoor terraces. The most centrally located ones are along the Place Vieille [Photo-11] and just around the corner at the Place du Marché [Photo-13]. Most recently (Oct 2009) we had lunch at Le Kiosque on the Place du Marché; an excellent, low-cost meal prepared by the new cook-owner who had taken over at the beginning of that week

Lodging - Hotels

Hotels in Towns Nearby to La Garde-Freinet

• 10 km — Grimaud hotels

• 10 km — Plan-de-la-Tour hotels

• 13 km — Cogolin hotels

• 20 km — Saint Tropez hotels