Il n'y a plus qu'à descendre

Le planning de réservation Booking 2024 est ouvert !

https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/gite-rural-la-bergerie-du-sant.fr.html

Les joyeuses vacances sont de retour

A cause de la crise sanitaire du coronavirus et pour ne pas faire prendre de risques aux personnes fragiles de notre famille, nous avons, à regrets, décidé de ne pas ouvrir le gîte pendant les saisons 2020 et 2021. 

Comme disent les anglais optimistes, « to make a constraint an opportunity », c’est-à-dire, pour faire d’une contrainte une opportunité, nous avons utilisé ce temps pour continuer les travaux d’embellissement du gîte et préparer de nouvelles activités découvertes que nous serons heureux de partager avec vous,

In order to avoid any risk to our older or fragile family members, we decided not to open the cottage during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

To make a constraint an opportunity we are currently working on improving the cottage. We hope a safe 2022 season and wait for welcoming you with great pleasure then.

In the meantime, you will find on the blog new discoveries in our valley. flowers and insects season and Muschroms' later on.

Avis clients du Gîte/ Reviews

Where is our cottage?

Bienvenus, welcome, welkom, willkommen, bienvenidos, benvenuti, benvenguts

Bienvenus aussi à vos animaux de compagnie
Welcome to your pet too!

Welcome

With a scientist background, and after a life as teacher and then abroad, we came back to France and run the cottage where we met each other, going on with our family dream: make you know our farm situated in the Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park, our forest in Natura 2000 area and our beautiful region as well.

With our children, we can welcome you in French, English, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian or Occitan and share with you what we know about astronomy, geology, botanic, photography, bow and crossbow practice, medieval fencing, Occitany regional history… according to your choices and wishes. After the visit of an amazing geological site or after playing with a dragonfly, you will never look at Nature with the same eyes.

More details/photos about the cottage on Booking website:
https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/gite-rural-la-bergerie-du-sant.html?lang=xu

And some nice places close to it:



 

Together with three world heritage sites around:

Episcopal City of Albi: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1337/

Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/345/

Canal du Midi : http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/770

More on the Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park: clic here

How to reach our small valley?

Several routes are possible. For the first time we advice the following which are the most convenient:

Via Lyon/Montpellier

https://goo.gl/maps/ovhV8JYio5A2

Via Paris/Bordeaux/Toulouse

https://goo.gl/maps/dSkfPEDJqKR2

GPS:

Latitude : 43.479051

Long : 2.171363

There is a flag on the front wall of the house

Activities proposed during your holidays

  "In every walk with Nature, one receives far more than he seeks" John Muir

1-     Forest trails

Biodiversity in a mixed forest of the Central Massif

       Guardian Trees

        Mosses & lichens

        Ferns

        Miscellaneous plants

        Mushrooms (Autumn holidays)

Our farm and forest in the valley of the creek Le Sant.
The cottage is 300 m downstream

2-       Geology trails

        Black Mountain and its rocks

        Metamorphic rocks trail

        Karst trail

        Granite trails (Lampy & Sidobre)

3-       Astronomy evenings

        From the Earth to the Moon

        Wonderful solar system

        Billions of stars

        Infinite galaxies

       Star-night national event:  weekend end July-beginning August, one subject per year

      ex :

     7, 8 and 9/8/2015: climat and atmosphere of planets

     5, 6, 7, 8 and 9/8/2016: distances in the Universe and comets
    28, 29 and 30/7/2017: exoplanets suitable for life

"look deep into Nature, and then you will understand everything better"
Albert Einstein

4-       Local History, Occitany

Albigensian crusade (Cathar)

History of fortified sites and castra

Albi and Castres cities

Jean Jaures

Black Mountain WWII maquis

Occitan, language of the troubadours

 Ruins of the Castle of Lastours

5-       Introduction to viticulture & oenology

Gaillac wines

French vineyards and wines

European vineyards and wines

World vineyards and wines

6-       Introduction to photography

Shooting & printing in black and white argentic photography

       Shooting and digital treatment

       Infographics

7-        Introduction to bow and crossbow

8-        Introduction to medieval fencing

9-   Mountain bike trails

      1 MB for children, 1MB  for teenager, 1 MB for adult,  to borrow

      - La Capelette

      - Le Pas du Sant

      - Contrast

10- Hiking trails

      Le tour du Cerf (easy)

      Le moulin foulon (very easy)

      Le balcon du haut Sant (easy)

      La Capelette (easy)

      Contrast (easy)

Creek trail

Some more difficult trails are also available for trained teenagers and adults.    
For all forest, geological and hiking trails, hiking shoes are needed.
For the Creek trail, plastic boots are needed. 

And so many more hikes around: https://www.tourisme-tarn.com/uk/

11- Restauration of old objects and furniture

12- Pyrography



Note about pictures:
I am shooting most of the pictures posted on this blog, otherwise the name of the author is always mentioned.
They are shot with two Sony cameras (Cyber-shot G or Cyber-shot Rx100III).
They are on-the-spot and subject neither to any change of the nature around nor to treatment with Photoshop except for some of them which have been cropped.  When pictures modified with Photoshop are posted it will be mentioned.

Equipment available in the cottage for babies and kids

Ø   2 baby chairs

Ø   2 baby beds

Ø   1 bed for young child

Ø   1 playpen       

Ø   1 baby bouncer

Ø   1 baby walker

Ø   1 baby seat for mountain bike

Ø   1 bike for young child

Ø   1 sand box in the garden

Ø   1 safety barrier for the staircase

Ø   1 stroller

Ø   1 plastic bath tub, 2 baby pots, 2 changing mats, toys, books…