♫ Listening to the music of nature in Livradois-Forez | Vacances en Auvergne

Experiencing botanical music therapy in Livradois-Forez

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Chemin des Papetiers, a family hike from Ambert that starts in the valley hollow at Valeyres and heads for the Livradois-Forez paper mills? The 7-kilometer trail takes in some of the oldest paper mills in the region. Recently reinvented with new signage, the trail offers an opportunity to introduce your ears to botanical music therapy. Just as tissue paper is born of fabric, so fabric is born of cotton. And so, thanks to plants, Ambert was one of the world’s largest paper-making towns. A fine way to pay tribute to them.

Botanical music therapy is a fairly recent movement that highlights the benefits to our well-being of the sound produced by plants and trees. For Renaud Rulhmann, a researcher in phytoneurology, it enables “a reharmonization of the living and [therefore] of our organism”. An exciting program made possible by a small machine inspired by the legendary lie detector in spy films. Renaud has captured the sounds emitted by plants. Transcribed and transformed into music, they become audible to the human ear. The music of nature. A true marvel.

Sound preview: hazelnut

The music of nature on the road to the paper mills

The Ambert paper trail has recently been redesigned. Using QR codes, the walk is immersive and poetic. The short hike, punctuated by stages, highlights the water cycle, the voice of the trees or the watermarks of the paper industry, the imprint of man. QR codes link to 360° videos where luminous shapes enchant the walker. Photographer and video artist Vincent Delesvaux uses the photographic technique of “light painting” to “recreate the world a little”.

At night, Vincent illuminates the material with a lamp. He creates “poetic vignettes where reality meets […] the moon illuminating the setting”. In this way, he tells a story, linked to the surrounding nature. Finally, each video was enriched by the music of nature, captured by Renaud Rulhmann. A first in France. A highly poetic path to discover in Ambert. It’s up to you to take the plunge.