A footpath worth getting your teeth into!

Between Grand Gondon and Landry, head out along the Sentier des vergers (orchards' trail), specifically between the Saint-Pantaléon and La Ballastière orchards. Fruit trees have been grown in Tarentaise for centuries, and the "meadow-orchard" tradition enabled a unique combination between fruit and livestock grazing. Apples and pears were grown near hamlets where the individual plots, with four or five trees in each, grouped together to form the patchwork "meadow-orchard" landscape where grass and fruit were nurtured side by side. The fruit was harvested in early October, before the cowherds and cows came back down from the highland pastures and montagnettes, small seasonal settlements. Once the cows were back, they could graze without the risk of choking on a fallen fruit. This system was also a natural way of fertilising the soil. The orchards were thus all planted in the open field with fairly high branches so as to allow the herds to roam around freely.