The hamlets of Bigorre – Les Maziaux are made up of 2 adjoining hamlets and fall under the jurisdiction of the village of St. Front, which is part of the Le Puy-en-Velay city agglomeration in southeast Auvergne, France. The lower hamlet is known as Bigorre and the upper hamlet is called Les Maziaux. They date back to the 17th century when the first farmers arrived to grow wheat and rye. Farming still occurs today and when the land is lying fallow, it serves as grazing areas for cows and horses from the surrounding farms.

The hamlets are on the edge of a plateau and faces west toward the valleys of Velay and Sucs du Chapteuil. The slopes of the plateau form the valley and the gorges of la Gagne, a small river that has as its source Lake St. Front 8 km upstream. Situated high on a plateau on a mountain ridge at about 1000 meters above sea-level, every house has a view of the rolling mountains and valleys of the Massif Central.

Almost all houses in Bigorre – Les Maziaux are built of stones and thatched or slate roofs, two types of roofs typical of this region. The more upscale houses of the day had roofs of slate extracted from local quarries. Smaller homes were generally covered with straw from the rye grown in the area.

A thatched roof, if regularly maintained, can last up to 40 years before the straw needs to be completely replaced. A slate roof can last up to 200 years or more without much maintenance. It is not usually the slate that deteriorates but the frame or the clay bed on which they are laid.

While in a village we usually find a church and a bakery, in hamlets, we will find neither. However, in this region, hamlets will typical include 2 buildings: a communal bread oven and and assembly. The residents will use the oven in turn to bake all their bread for the week or fortnight. The oven is kept warm almost the entire time. The assembly or the ‘house of the blessed’ was the meeting place for the inhabitants of the hamlet. It served as a parish, infirmary, school and place of celebration. As Bigorre and Les Maziaux were two small individual hamlets, they each had their communal oven and their assembly. Today, the two ovens are still there and can be visited. Unfortunately, only the assembly of Maziaux is still standing.

The hamlets of Bigorre-Les Maziaux are now protected and any new construction or major renovation must be approved by the Commission of Architects of France to ensure the maintenance and continuity of the local architectural features.

Both hamlets were served by a school until 1965. The school was built during the 1st world war by the village elders who remained during the war and was completed in 1917. The schoolhouse has since been renovated to become a vacation home. In fact, most of the homes in hamlets now serve as vacation homes although there are a few year-round residents. Several of the vacation homes can also be rented as gites for vacationers including Les Peyriers, and there is a large auberge than can welcome over 20 guests.

There are two museum buildings located in the lower hamlet of Bigorre, where inside, visitors may view a re-creation of a home in Bigorre 200 years ago. The other building showcases what a farmhouse would have looked like. These museums are usually open during July and August from 3pm to 7pm.

Visitors must park their vehicles at one of two parking lots found at the entrance of either hamlet. There is a walking tour of the village that can start at either parking lot that will take the visitors past every house in both hamlets as well as a hilltop of volcanic basalt columns. This hilltop is the highest point in both hamlets and offers the visitor a complete 360 degree view of the Massif Central.