The Causse de Montcalmès is home to vegetation characteristic of the scrubland: alternating holm oak woodlands, dry lawns and broom moors. Deserted since the 19th century, relegated to the state of a ghost village, Montcalmès was nevertheless one of the oldest villages in the Hérault valley, pre-existing to the villages of Aniane and Puéchabon. Like the hamlet of Lavène, the population of Montcalmès has, during certain periods, exceeded the threshold of fifty inhabitants. The way of life of these villagers was then punctuated by logging and sheep breeding. The plateau is still today dotted with a multitude of vestiges, witnesses of an ancient human occupation: dry stone walls delimiting the plots (the devois), ruined sheepfolds, drailles, lavognes ... constitute as many traces testifying to a significant economic activity. The exploitation of the plateau was punctuated by a fallow system: first grazed and fertilized with "migou" sheep manure, the plots were left with holm oak, cut approximately every twenty years. The wood was used for different purposes: charcoal production, fueling ovens, heating, use of bark in the tanneries of Aniane. This way of life has died out in favor of comfort and modernity. The abandonment of pastoralism has led to the re-colonization of the plateau by the forest.
The Causse de Montcalmès, a vast limestone plateau, overlooks the Hérault gorges on the left bank. Less traveled than the neighboring massifs, it offers a breathtaking view of the Séranne chain and the mountains of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. A circuit to discover with the family.