Mies

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Mies
Canton	Vaud
District	Nyon
Coordinates	46°18′N, 06°10′E
Population	1481 (2004)
Area	3.47 km²
Elevation	410 m
Postal code	1295
SFOS number	5723
Mayor	Patrice Engelberts
Website	www.mies.ch
Surrounded by	Tannay, Chavannes-des-Bois, Versoix (GE)
Mies

For other uses, see Mies (disambiguation).

Mies is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.

It is approximately half-way between Geneva and Nyon. Mies sits on Lake Geneva (Lac Léman), which lies to the southeast and is 410m above sea-level. The highest point of Mies is 455m above sea level. The part of Mies touching the lake measures 1.63 km. To the southwest lies Versoix, in the Canton of Geneva and to the northwest Chavannes-de-Bogis, which houses a major shopping mall. To the north and west lie the Communes of Tannay, Bogis-Bossey, and Coppet. Mies is separated from the neighbouring commune of Tannay by small ravine containing a brook known as le nant du Torry.

Approximately 29% of the commune is made up of housing, 35% to forest and woods, 35% to agriculture and somewhat less than 1% is unproductive countryside or wasteland.

Mies is one of the communes of Vaud which are collectively known as the "Terre-Sainte".

1 History
2 Mies Village
3 Recreation
4 Nature reserves
5 Transportation
- 5.1 Rail
- 5.2 Bus
6 Demographics
7 Languages
8 Image gallery
9 External links

[edit] History

It is thought that the name Mies comes from its location of half way ("mi-") between Geneva and Nyon, or maybe because it is half way between Versoix and Coppet. Remains of settlements have been found all the way back to the Bronze Age, but the first documentary reference to Mies was in 1345 under the name Mie. Later on, additional ways of writing the village appeared: Miez, Mier, Myez, Myer, Myes and only in 1912 Mies. With the conquest of the Waadt (Canton de Vaud) by Berne in the year 1536 the village came under the administration of the district of Nyon.

Village center

[edit] Mies Village

The village of Mies is served by a number of small businesses. Amongst these can be found a general store/grocer, the post office, hairdresser, video store, pharmacy, tea-room, restaurants, doctor and dentist, hotel, bank, etc. In the commune of Mies, but not in the village centre, can be found a number of businesses mostly along the Route Suisse, which follows the lake, including restaurants, lake facilities, boat builders, and garages.

The Primary school in the village is called "Le Sorbier"213.103.151.161 15:46, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

The nearest full size shopping facilities can be found at the neighbouring village of Chavannes de Bogis, about 10 minutes drive away, where there is a major shopping complex.

[edit] Recreation

The playing fields of Mies include a full size football field, basketball pitch, boules (pétanque), running track, tennis courts, and children's playground with swings, climbing frames and other children's games. The clubhouse has showers and toilets, as well as a snack bar, but these facilities are generally only open when football matches are being played on the sports field.

There is a polo field, Polo de Veytay, where several polo matches are played every year, such as the Geneva Polo Masters. This is part of the large agricultural and forest area known as Domaine de Veytay, in the North-West of the commune and which takes up about 40% of the area of the commune or some 150 hectares. Photos

Right on the border of the commune, but on the Versoix side is the Versoix Sports Centre, which includes a swimming pool.

Mies has a public beach on Lake Geneva. This is popular in the summer months and several bar-b-Qs have been set up. Photos

[edit] Nature reserves

The Domaine de Veytay contains a nature reserve known as la Gouille Marion covering 7 hectares. Although private land, there are no restrictions on walking through the forest, visiting a large pond, and viewing the birds from some watch-sheds in the forest. Originally la Gouille Marion was boggy marshland which became flooded in the winter. However in 1972 l'Association pour la Protection des Bois de la Rive Droit du Lac (Society for the protection of woodlands on the north side of the lake), carried out work which gave birth to the large pond in which two small islands were built. A ditch was also constructed in order to control the level of water. A bird observatory was built to allow ornithologists to watch the birds without disturbing them. In 1973 la Gouille Marion was classified as a nature reserve and it is forbidden to leave the paths during the nesting season from 1st March to 1st August. Hunting is also forbidden and dogs must be kept on their leads. The forest and pond hold many species of birds, insects, amphibians including various frogs and toads, and mammals such as deer, wild boar and foxes which drink from the pond. Photos

Mies has a second nature reserve, Les Crénées, on the lakeshore, which is also private property, but not accessible to the public.

There are plenty of long winding paths through the countryside and woods, bordering on corn fields and apple orchards.

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Rail

The railway line between Versoix and Coppet was built in 1858 and the train station of Mies is served by frequent regional trains running north to Coppet or south to Versoix, and Geneva.

[edit] Bus

The nearest public bus is the Service "V" (for Versoix) which stops just outside the border of Mies at the "Centre Sportif la Bécassière", (otherwise known as the Versoix Swimming Pool).

[edit] Demographics

The village of Mies has a population of around 1500 to 1600 living in 1000 homes. (Official population in 2005 was 1482 inhabitants). This number has risen from the 1289 recorded in 1990 and 940 in 1980. In 1900 the population was 223 in 1800, it was 143, and in 1633 it was just 64. The post code is CH-1295 Mies. Agricultural workers now make up only a small part of the population. Some of the population are employed locally in the service sector, while a fair number are commuters working in Geneva, which is easily accessible by car and train.

[edit] Languages

According to official statistics in 2000, some 73.1% of the population are of French mother tongue, 10.1% of English mother tongue, and 6.5% speak German. These figures howver mask the fact that many families are bi-lingual, if not multi-lingual, and many other families have an extremely good grasp of a second language, particularly English.

[edit] Image gallery

Picture of the village centre	Schoolbus stop in front of the Town Hall (Old School)	Primary School, "Les Sorbiers"	The edge of Lake Geneva (The Public Beach)
Veytay, Countryside walks	Entering Mies	Forest path	Pierre à Penys
Cornfield	Versoix: Sports centre	Route Suisse, Mies	Administration Communale
Old School, Mies	La Violette, Mies	La Couronne	Chez Dominique
La Poste, Mies	Christmas in Mies	Mies village