Unusual places to stay at domain : Les Etangs de la Bassée

Passionate about nature, I lived all my childhood in Gravon, a village in Seine-et-Marne. My family has been living in Gravon for more than 100 years, so I have spent summers and winters walking in the wide open spaces and enjoying being in the heart of nature to recharge my batteries.In 2020, I had the opportunity to acquire an exceptional estate and I decided to buy it with the grand project of developing a tourism area in this magnificent green setting. The Domaine des Étangs de la Bassée was born!Nevertheless, the year 2020 was not the right time to launch such a large-scale project with the appearance of the pandemic, but this did not stop me and I decided all the same to open the doors of my atypical and modern domain to tourism.A large aviary, currently housing 47 different hens (Sussex, Harco etc.) and ducks (Colvert, blanc de l'Allier etc.) has been installed on the estate since its creation. The meeting with the animals is an opportunity to run educational workshops with children and their parents. This aviary offers guests the possibility of picking up fresh eggs for breakfast, for example. It is also an opportunity to recycle the daily organic waste of the estate (vegetable peelings for example) in the form of natural compost!In partnership with a local beekeeper, 3 beehives have been installed on the estate: an opportunity to raise visitors' awareness of the environment and the importance of these insects in the pollination cycle, through educational workshops.Vines were planted to introduce tourists to the diversity of our French and regional wine heritage. The vineyard workshop, which will be set up by the summer of 2022, will focus on the discovery of wine-making processes, grape varieties and the major wine-producing regions of France, with an emphasis on local production and biodynamic wine production.For the arrival of the good weather in 2022, I have decided to start a permaculture vegetable garden which will be set up in the spring. This is a participatory project for which seasonal planting will be carried out. It will allow us to animate the stays of our guests by making them benefit from this self-sufficient vegetable garden with the sharing of vegetables and fruits grown and the contribution to the development and maintenance of this ethical "garden". Young and old alike will enjoy discovering this natural activity through playful and educational workshops led by the staff of the Étangs de la Bassée.In parallel with this participative project, a new activity has been created: the trips on the Seine.On board our "Bac", a comfortable cruise boat, we offer guests (up to 12 passengers) the opportunity to enjoy a trip on the Seine to swim and discover the largest nature reserve in Ile-de-France: the Natura 2000 zone, which is located near our estate.In addition, I wanted to plant more than 1,500 trees, including more than a hundred fruit trees, with a view to allowing guests to pick and taste seasonal fruit during their stay at the Domaine des Etangs de la Bassée.