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The glaciers of the Rhône and Isère join up near Banchet, with one having dug up the Liers Plain and the other the Bièvre Plain. The ridge at Banchet originates in the lesser degree of erosion due to the thinner ice where they meet.

Banchet is remarkable for the groves of chestnuts on its northern slope, while its southern slope enjoys sunlight that has made this a desirable residential zone, despite the distance from any urban centres.

In this regard, it should be noted that, like the Liers Plain, Banchet is cut (and thus served) by the A 48 and N 85 motorways and D 518.

The contrast between this long 30-kilometre stretch with the two cereal-growing plains that border it to the north and south is extreme, and in fact make it an isle which is itself divided into two very different parts.

The eastern side of the hill, between the peak at Mont Follet, at 773 metres/2536 feet, and N85, is covered entirely and dominated by a very dense, almost impenetrable chestnut forest. The few open clearings that exist give no space for a view, rendering the closed space even more impressive.

The villages of Apprieu, Colombe, Grand-Lemps and Bévenais, on the sunnier adret, resemble ports on some inner sea, on the interface between two series of motifs: on the hillside, the meadows of the saltus and the chestnut forests; on the plains side, D 73 and the large farms, which flow without interruption to the villages on the opposite hillside.

On the shadier ubac side, the legibility of this model is ensured, and the villages of Oyeu and Longechenal have maintained their originality, separated by a dozen non-urbanised kilometres, except for the two modest villages of Quétan and Liers. But the same is not true on the adret, whose image has been affected by fir colonisation, uncontrolled growth of vegetation and almost uninterrupted linear urbanisation, which has affected the open spaces between the upper forest edge and D 73.

Dealing with this uncontrolled growth demands a strong policy based on more economically efficient development models. At any rate, it is certain that the key to success continues to be maintaining agricultural activity . Sometimes this involves a complete transformation of the agricultural model.

As for the fir tree plantations, the main landscape concern is their location in space, for example, regrouping them in less visited sites that do not have much agricultural potential. This is part of a concern for achieving an indispensable landscape balance between open vegetation continuities and closed vegetation continuities. This could be based on a system of amicable exchanges and on a more general agricultural-forest and livestock-forest zoning. A second concern is attenuating their impact in terms of textures, colours and boundaries. While their economic rationale is not necessarily in question, it would nevertheless be useful to adopt a principle of balancing plantation subsidies with subsidies for mixed-growth plantations. Such a measure would encourage the development of different woodland models, where less dense growth would lighten the interior and make for more subtle boundary transitions than those achieved using geometrical plots alongside the adjoining cropland.

The western side of the hills is the Côte-Saint-André area. It has a very different look. The elevation falls to 644 metres/2113 feet at Mont Avalon and down to 452 metres/1483 feet at Penol. The clearings in the chestnut forests get larger towards the west, and the forest gradually gives way to a very open bocage landscape. On this monumental balcony-shaped ledge, from which the view extends over the plain up to the Alps, stands the town of Côte. It occupies a special position around the chateau, which is both a fortress and residential palace, and stands out from the surrounding countryside. This is the land of Hector Berlioz (1803-18069), creator of a musical genre, the symphonic poem, which has been carried on by several of his successors in the French school. It was also home to the impressionist painter Jongkind (1819-1891) in the years just before his death.

The villages of La Frette, Saint-Hilaire-de-la-Côte, Gillonay, Balbins and Penol , are spread out at the foot of the hill. Their cosy environment forms a reposing ambience of hedged woodland for the visitor, in contrast with the harsh open immensities of the plain. The meadows here are sprinkled with large trees, willows, ash and poplars, ,and even an occasional orchard.

The richness of this identity raises the issue of controlling the linear urbanisation which, as on the east of the plain, has spread along D 73, climbing very high into the hills and expanding lower and lower onto the plain.