Nature Park Doubs, St. Ursanne, Soubey’s Mill and the river Doubs

6 December 2025

From Lake Les Brenets (Swiss name; Lake Chaillexon is the French name), the River Doubs forms the border between France and Switzerland, passing through the beautiful medieval town of Saint-Ursanne (canton of Jura).

This river is already a story in itself. Its name derives from the Latin dubius, “doubter”. With good reason, because from its source in the French Jura near Les Brenets (three small lakes with gorges and waterfalls, Les Gorges du Doubs and Le Saut du Doubs), it first heads northeast.

Le Doubs  near St. Ursanne

At St Ursanne, it turns north and then southwest again. The Doubs then continues its course through Besançon (Franche-Comté) and flows into the Saône near the town of Verdun-sur-le-Doubs (Saône-et-Loire department). Its length is more than 400 km, but its source is only 100 km from its mouth.

Soubey

The mill Moulin du Milieu of Soubey (1565)

This river is the namesake of an extraordinary park: the Regional Nature Park of the Doubs (le Parc Naturel Régional du Doubs), encompassing the cantons of Neuchâtel, Jura, and Bern.

The park of about three hundred square kilometres has a remarkable diversity: wooded landscapes and flowery meadows and pastures of great beauty, mountain plateaus (up to 1500 metres), gorges, moors, ponds (amongst others the ponds (les étangs)of Gruère, Royes, Bollement, the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle, the mosaic of villages, hamlets and isolated farms (many of which have now been converted to other uses, such as galleries, accommodation, ateliers and museums) or the horse-breeding farms of the Franches-Montagnes.

The park also offers excellent facilities for sports and tourism year-round.

(Source: www.parcdoubs.ch)