Domaine du Canteau d'YF

Description

When we arrived at Domaine du Canteau, our initial idea was simple: to create warm, carefully decorated gîtes designed to provide our guests with a pleasant, relaxing, almost suspended stay.

For our part, we wanted to live in harmony with our environment, with our host region, and share a peaceful daily life with our animals.

And then life decided otherwise, or rather more broadly.

A few days after our arrival, goats appeared in our story, almost naturally, in the course of a conversation with a neighbor. We were telling him about our attachment to this shared life with animals. If there was room, why not take them in? Donkeys followed, as part of an emergency intake. Then came chickens, sheep, pigs, ducks...

At each stage, we approached our neighbors, farmers, breeders and local people. All, in their own way, accompanied, advised and supported us. Thanks to them, we discovered another way of living in a place: more humble, more concrete, more connected.

We also discovered ancient traditions, like the "tue-cochon". At first, it was hard for us to imagine raising an animal, feeding it, becoming attached to it, and then having to kill it to feed ourselves. So we read, listened, asked questions, met elders. Little by little, we became aware of the fragile balance that links nature, our food, our responsibility and our impact on living things.

Here, everything is linked: animals, the land, health, neighbors, elders, the community, transmission. We're just one link in a living, sensitive, moving whole. This life on the estate has given us a different approach to life: more attentive, more responsible, more grounded.

Little by little, we realized that we couldn't just be observers, sitting in our own corner, between work, home and close circle. We had to become fully integrated into this territory. And, to be honest, it didn't take that much effort: very quickly, we felt at home here, and full members of this community.

Today, Domaine du Canteau is a discovery farm.

We raise our animals with two essential aims in mind: to give them a beautiful and dignified life among us, and to handle their end-of-life with the greatest possible respect, minimizing their anguish and pain. It's also a way of better nourishing ourselves and those around us.

The "tue-cochon", for example, remains a moment of sharing. Neighbors get together, elders pass on their knowledge, everyone gives of their time, contributes their know-how, helps others to feed themselves. These are simple gestures, but they speak volumes about a world where mutual aid still has meaning.

Without really having asked for it, we have become a kind of bridge between the agricultural world, Gascony, the Gers and the people who stay with us. Many come here to rediscover another approach to life, in which the human being is not at the center of everything, but one of the elements of a sensitive and fragile harmony.

You can of course book our gîtes to come and enjoy the estate, the peace and quiet, the swimming pool and this interlude in the countryside.

For those who wish to go further, we also offer an immersive stay with us, to share the daily life of the estate, discover animal care, the rhythm of the day, and a different way of living. It's a participative and committed stay. By taking part in this project, and supporting us with a symbolic financial contribution, you are making a concrete contribution to bringing this place to life, and helping us to pursue this adventure.

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