Deep gorges cut into the chalk plateau of Aveyron, and seemingly unstoppable canyon valleys bowl along the landscape. In the north east, the Causses - vast arid limestone plateaux - have given rise to probably the most well known village in the area, Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.

The village with one main street, one main product and a warren of damp caves packed with Roquefort cheese undergoing its period of three month affinage (maturing), continues to exert a timeless pull over visitors. Produced from ewes’ milk, Roquefort is truly a king of cheeses, or at least so Charlemagne thought.

The mysterious penicillin - which occurs naturally in the caves of Le Cambalou - is the major key to production which no modern method can effectively replicate.

	Rodez Cathedral

As you walk along the unpaved streets, past the medieval houses in the rough-hewn stone village of La Couvertoirade built by the Knights Templars, the middle ages almost come back to life. Take a trip into the Causses to see the “chaos”, the huge rocks strewn across the landscape resembling ruined cities and faces.

The area’s churches and abbeys are stuffed with holy relics, valuable religious artifacts and examples of renaissance treasures. Every item on display has a story to tell which make the intrigues of modern TV soap scripts look distinctly humdrum.

The stories bristle with conspiracies and deal making, involve every royal French house there ever was, and are littered with a whole host of instantly forgettable names of martyrs and saints.

	Sauveterre de Rouergue

The Abbaye de Ste Foy in the village of Conques amazingly escaped looting and vandalism for more than a millennium and houses probably the best collection of treasures in western Europe dating from the 9th to16th century.

Any itinerary should include a visit to the city of Rodez with its shop-lined Place de Bourg and pink sandstone Cathédrale Notre-Dame. A morning or afternoon is enough, so it can easily be fitted around other plans. A stroll along the city’s network of medieval streets, which rather neatly connect all the city’s main squares, means it’s harder than you think to get lost.

Espalion at the wide fertile opening of the Lot valley has an attractive riverside quarter with galleried and balconied houses. Once tanneries, the houses hang perilously as if they could fall crashing into the water at any time.

To enjoy Aveyron at its best, it’s a good idea to do a bit of exploratory reading first and map out a rough itinerary to save time going back on yourself.