Lake Annecy - Annecy rentals

Cons-Sainte-Colombe

Located at the south-west point of the départment and close to the "border" with the neighbouring Savoie départment, our village sits at an altitude of approximately 550m. It is a charming small village at just the right distance from the RN 508 road and its traffic. Cons-Sainte-Colombe is nested at the foot of the "Dent de la Cons" and is approximately 17 km from Albertville, 8 km from Ugine, 30 km from Annecy and only 2 km from Faverges, the chef-lieu where all the shops and services are to be found, as there are none in the village itself.

The village is mostly turned toward residential and farming (two farms) activities. It has succeeded in preserving its spirit thanks to its 300 friendly and welcoming inhabitants, and to its well kept old village houses and farms renovated with taste, concentrated around the church tower. A few more recent villas and chalets are also to be found close by.

Over the past years, Cons-Sainte-Colombe has regularly been prized for its efforts in terms of floral decoration. In 1999 it was awarded a "première fleur" by the regional jury of the towns and villages floral decoration competition, and came 2nd in its category for the Haute-Savoie département, it also won the special prize for rural villages.

From the beginning of Spring to the end of Autumn, the village is in the capable hands of a group of enthusiastic volunteers who respect their environment and decorate Cons-Sainte-Colombe with a thousand colours, which make it worth the detour.

The inhabitants of Cons-Sainte-Colombe used to be called "Coinards" and "Coinardes" in the local patois, and are now called "Saints-Colombiens" and "Saintes-Colombiennes" in French (although there is no official name to our knowledge). They have often wondered what the origin of their village name was, giving rise to a great deal of research, and papers, which have been published in the official council bulletin.

As far as the origin of "Cons" is concerned, the commonly accepted interpretation is that this word comes from the lower Latin "Cumba", transformed into Combs, Comps, Coms and Cons in common language, and by derivation into "Combe" in French. A coomb being a slight depression at the top of the hills, which does not continue down the slopes. This is consistent with the situation of the village.
As for "Sainte-Colombe" here are two legends that have been rediscovered:

"I have always heard it said that if the village was called Sainte-Colombe, it is because during the sad years of the black plague, when the Nant river had been overflowing, a white Dove (Colombe in French) came to land on the church tower to announce the end of the troubled times."

"A long time ago, important landslides threatened to tumble down from the "DENT" right above the village. They threatened to bury the land, off which the inhabitants barely managed to scrape a living. The most terrifying of all was a huge landslide that advanced slowly each spring when the thaw came, looming menacingly overhead. The villagers were afraid. Yet, one day a dove came to nest in the church tower just below and the inhabitants took this to be a sign that all danger had disappeared. As a matter of fact, the landslide halted its progression and nowadays the threatening mass is none other than the "rocher de la Torche". To commemorate the event, the village located at the feet of the "Dent de Cons" was called Sainte Colombe ".