Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française

Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française
Commune
A view of the village from the south
Location of Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française
Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française Show map of France Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française Show map of Occitanie
Coordinates: 44°10′04″N 3°50′33″E
Country	France
Region	Occitania
Department	Lozère
Arrondissement	Florac
Canton	Le Collet-de-Dèze
Government
• Mayor (2021–2026)	Patrick Valdeyron[1]
Area ^1	50.99 km^2 (19.69 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	496
• Density	9.7/km^2 (25/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	48148 /48330
Elevation	194–925 m (636–3,035 ft) (avg. 245 m or 804 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Saint-Étienne-Vallée-Française (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃t‿etjɛn vale fʁɑ̃sɛːz]; Occitan: Sent Estève de Valfrancesca) is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France.^[3]

The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson passed through the village on 2 October 1878, as recounted in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes:

I went down beside the Gardon of Mialet, a great glaring watercourse devoid of water, and through St. Etienne de Vallée Française, or Val Francesque, as they used to call it; and towards evening began to ascend the hill of St. Pierre.^[4]

The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (GR 70), a popular long-distance path following Stevenson's approximate route, runs through the village.^[5]

See also

• Communes of the Lozère department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 1 February 2022.
2. "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. INSEE commune file
4. Stevenson, Robert Louis (1905) [1879]. "The Country of the Camisards" . Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 192–193  – via Wikisource.
5. Castle, Alan (2007). "Stage 12 – Saint-Germain-de-Calberte to Saint-Jean-du-Gard". The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (2nd ed.). Cicerone. pp. 171–182. ISBN 978-1-85284-511-7.