Like every year, the delegation from MPF (Maison paysanne de France) presented its prizes. The ceremony took place in the village hall of the Departmental Council. Three restoration projects were rewarded: the restoration of the Cap Combattut buron, in the commune of Marchastel, in the granite territory category. A group of houses in Saint-Germain-de-Calberte in the center of the village, in the schist territory category. And finally an old inn “L'Esquillou” in the town of La Canourgue, in the limestone territory category.
Ruins become a place of welcome
On the Aubrac, the Cap Combattut buron is the property of Maïté, Christian and Jean-Louis Tichet. The family bought the plot of summer pasture in 1994 where the ruined buron is located. Work began in 2013 and lasted two years.
Today, the Cap Combattut buron has become a welcoming place, with an inn, two guest rooms and a small house for vacation rental.
300 years of history
In Saint-Germain-de-Calberte, Dominique and Xavier Le Maire completely restored a block of houses around an interior garden. The restoration work involved several adjoining houses which had burned and were in ruins.. “The family home was an inn, it is over 300 years old” explains Dominique Le Maire, who continues: “Agathe, the innkeeper welcomed Robert Louis Stevenson during his trip to the Cévennes, with his donkey Modestine”. Today, the Le Maire couple welcome walkers of the Stevenson trail to their stopover lodge.
L’Esquillou, “little bell”
In the town of La Canourgue, “L'Esquillou” is the property of Cécile Duvelle and Mauro Rossi. Located on the Causse de Sauveterre, it is an isolated house on the edge of a small road. “ This house was acquired by my father in the 1980s” specifies Cécile Duvelle, who adds “The previous owner lived in self-sufficiency. My father made the house habitable with water and electricity. In 2014, he sold it to us, and we did a restoration in 2016 and 2017 to make it comfortable and habitable all year round. Thanks to our architect Nathalie Crespin, we had access to excellent craftsmen who all work in Lozère”. “L’Esquillou” means little bell in Occitan.“What a pretty name full of poetry for this old inn, which can only bring to mind the stormy bell towers of our regions with a more difficult climate”specifies Nicole Confolent Chabannes, departmental delegate of Maisons paysannes de France.
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