Exploring Cliousclat: France’s Timeless Village of Potters and Hidden Beauty

Tucked among the orchards and vineyards of the Drôme Provençale, the village of Cliousclat sits on a gentle rise with breathtaking views across the Rhône Valley. It is the kind of place that feels effortlessly charming, with stone houses and wooden shutters, shaded ruelles that invite you to wander, and a scattering of cafés and restaurants where time slows to the pace of a long lunch. Behind its easygoing beauty lies a story that has shaped the village for centuries: the story of pottery.

Locals call it simply “Cliou.” For generations, the hum of potters’ wheels was the soundtrack of daily life here, and the whole community revolved around clay and fire. By the mid-19th century more than 250 villagers were tied to the craft. Clay diggers, woodcutters, carters, turners, and kiln masters each played their part. Children helped prepare clay, while men stacked pine bundles for the enormous kilns that burned day and night.

The clay itself came from nearby quarries. Dug with shovels and picks, it was washed, sifted, and left to settle in wide pools before being shaped into heavy blocks ready for the potter’s wheel. The kilns were vast, some holding up to 20 cubic meters, and firings consumed hundreds of bundles of pine. For two days and nights the flames roared, reaching an inferno hot enough to transform soft earth into vessels hard as stone. When the doors were opened, the pots emerged glowing, their glazed surfaces gleaming in the light.

The glaze is what set Cliousclat apart. A mixture of silica-rich clay and ground lead gave pottery a waterproof, brilliant finish. Oxides added color, copper for greens, manganese for deep purples, iron for reds and oranges. Designs ranged from simple rustic finishes to playful decorations scratched with nails, brushed with slip, or painted with a barolet, a small tool that produced fine, flowing lines. Each piece was both useful and beautiful, from sturdy kitchenware to graceful jugs and bowls.

In 1902 Marius Anjaleras founded the Fabrique de Poterie, an ambitious workshop that carried Cliousclat’s craft into a new century. Later, in 1964, Philippe Sourdive revived it again, introducing fresh shapes and vibrant colors that redefined traditional glazed earthenware. Today, the Fabrique is protected as a Historic Monument and remains very much alive. Visitors can step inside, hear the wheels turning, and watch potters shape clay with the same practiced gestures as their ancestors. The shelves are lined with ochre, green, and chestnut glazes that shine like jewels in the Provençal light.

Yet Cliousclat is more than its pottery. It is a bohemian village where artists, travelers, and food lovers linger. There are restaurants serving seasonal dishes on terraces looking out to the wheat fields, guesthouses where you can spend the night surrounded by stone walls and lavender-scented air, and small shops selling regional specialties. It is a place where history and creativity flow together, where you can spend the morning watching pottery take shape and the evening sipping wine beneath the grape-laden vines.

To visit Cliousclat is to step into a rhythm shaped by clay and fire, but softened by the art of living well. It is not just a village of potters, it is a village that knows how to welcome.

Stay: La Treille Muscate

Eat: Melocoton, L'Alandier

New Pottery: La Fabrique, Poterie du Fer Rouge

Antique Pottery from Cliousclat: Buy Online