I would like to override something set in a .htaccess in a higher directory.

i have a htaccess file that does this,

AuthUserFile /var/www/servers/.htpasswd
AuthName "Not worth looking at really, so go away"
AuthType Basic

<Limit GET POST>
require valid-user
</Limit>

but in a lower directory, i do not need to require basic auth, but i cant seem to override the directive in the .htaccess and it asks users for a password.

i have tried such directives as
allow all

and

Anonymous nobody

but it stills ask for a username/password

I cant change the structure of the site so i really have to solve this, thanks