The Lime of Château-Vieux (Tilleul de Châteauvieux)
Seasons1 of 4
This lime measures 10.2 metres around the trunk at chest height. Two separate surveys came back with 10.18 and 10.2, which is about as close to agreement as tape measures around an old lime ever get. It stands on the square beside the Chapelle de Château-Vieux, a thirteenth-century chapel in a hamlet a kilometre and a half west of Féternes, in the hills above Lac Léman. The A.R.B.R.E.S. association labelled it a Remarkable Tree of France in 2000. Its age is given as at least 400 years, and no source pushes the figure further, so that is where it stays. The crown goes up about 20 metres. The species is Tilia cordata, the small-leaved lime: heart-shaped leaves, and a flush of scented flower in early summer that the bees find before you do. The commune built a walking loop around it, the Boucle du tilleul et de la pierre à cupules, which takes in the tree and a prehistoric cup-marked stone in one afternoon. That is the honest measure of this one. It is a hamlet's own landmark in a corner of Haute-Savoie people already come to walk in, rather than a tree you cross the country for. There is no gate and no ticket, and no bus either. The last stretch is road from Féternes, then your feet.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Place de la Chapelle de Château-Vieux, hameau de Châteauvieux, 74500 Féternes, Haute-Savoie
You can recognise it by the trunk, 10.2 metres round at chest height, under a crown about 20 metres up. It stands on the square beside the thirteenth-century Chapelle de Château-Vieux, and the walking loop is signposted to it.
Free. Stands on the public square beside the 13th-century Chapelle de Château-Vieux, and is the named stop on a signposted local walking loop ("Boucle du tilleul et de la pierre à cupules à Féternes", per lofficiel.net and the Pays d'Evian tourist office cc-peva.fr, which references a downloadable "Sentier du Tilleul" trail leaflet). No gate, no ticket.
Rural hamlet with no rail/transit stop; reached by road from Féternes centre (about 1.5km) or Thonon-les-Bains further out. Walking or driving only, no public transport.
In bloom
June to July, when it flowers
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.