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The Ariège as a department has lost two thirds of its population in the last 100 years. When we first bought our Ariege accommodation in the French Pyrenees as our vacation home more than 20 years ago the then mayor of the commune, an old Ariègios farmer welcomed us, saying that they needed people to come in and rescue the houses which were falling into ruins. In the last 7 years the number of residents has increased from 140 to 164, but the commune covers 3,300 hectares and is very sparsely populated.
Now we are living permanently in the area we have become increasingly involved in trying to help development whilst preserving the area. This includes serving on the management committees of the local tourist office and an association established to help small enterprises set up in the immediate area. William helps on the management committee of the Tourist Office and ESPACE a local not for profit association working to help small businesses install in the area and Evelyn a local councillor. We have recently taken on someone to help with cleaning and she lives another hamlet nearby.
We aim to buy goods and services locally so far as we can, for example soap produced with asses milk by a local enterprise, as well as cheese from a number of different local cheese makers, milk and other dairy products from local farmers. As far as possible produce which is not available locally, for example tea, coffee is bought from fair trade providers. We grow fruit and vegetables in our garden and we are hoping to add chickens this year, we buy all our meat from local producers, and dairy produce is largely bought locally, For staples such as sugar and rice we buy fairly traded goods. We have catered for vegetarian and vegan guests.
We have done some of the renovations ourselves, other works have been done by local artisans. We have tried as far as possible to use environmentally friendly materials, locally produced where possible. The heating of the house is now done by a wood chip boiler, with chips made locally. The back part of the house which is about 25 years old has been insulated on the outside with cork, which has been covered by weather boarding for the first floor and lime render on the ground floor. The hot water is provided by solar panels and most of the lighting is with low energy bulbs. All organic waste is composted for the garden, where possible waste is recycled through the local schemes and we try to limit our use of the dustbin.
In 2009 we were awarded the label “Terre et Nature” by Gite de France with the Parc Naturel Régional Pyrénées Ariégoises. This involved an audit of our building for its environmental impact, including heating and water management, waste management, horticultural methods and care of the local heritage.
We invite every traveler who books a vacation via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the vacations they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same vacation can have different views!
