Camping Dieulefit

Dieulefit (10 minutes’ drive) is your nearest destination for off-site eating, bars and shops, as well as being a veritable metropolis of potters, ceramicists and other craftmakers. It’s a similar tale in Montjoux 15 minutes away: a series of hilltop hamlets lines the Lez river, so full of artisan creators that your car may be groaning with treasures when you head back down. Treasures of a different sort are found at the châteaux of Grignan, Adhémar and Suze-le Rousse, all within an hour’s journey of your base, where the combination of Renaissance swishness, medieval isolation and tiptop views makes for fine historical wanderings. Sweet tooth? Sally forth to Montélimar 40 minutes away for tours and tastings at the famed Arnaud Soubeyran nougat factory, as well as shopping for sugary treats in the town’s many, many sweet shops. For toothsome sights of another kind, pay a visit to Pierrelatte an hour away, where the residents of La Ferme Aux Crocodiles await in their swampy habitats. Overdone it on the nougat? Never fear. Take a bracing hike up Mont Saint Maurice right from the site or head into Dieulefit to join the 63-mile Tour du Pays de Dieulefit walking route. For an easier ride, see the scenery from the saddle at Mornans (half an hour) with a horse trek through the Saou forest.