La Glacière

Ampus icehouse. Located just before the Ratton bridge, coming from Ampus on the way to Chateaudouble, it had been built in the coldest part of Ampus village. At a time when electric power or fridges did not exist, people were clever enough to use the climate and build natural ice houses. These holes allowed to keep ice meant to supply Draguignan pubs in summer. Gaston Martin relates that carts would convey the ice. When new modern technics started to be introduced, we soon forgot about the icehouse . Only a few people knew that an icehouse could be found and be visited in Ampus. The situation changed when an environmental protection association –APPA together with the municipality and the CAD organization pulled their efforts together so as to restore the icehouse and make it a public monument.