Domaine de Boisbuchet

The Domaine de Boisbuchet is a country estate in the Southwest of France at the border between the Charente and Limousin regions. The grounds extend across ca. 150 hectares – with historic and new buildings, gardens, meadows, fields, woods and a lake for swimming and fishing. To the south, the estate is bordered by the Vienne River. Some 20 km of riding and hiking trails can be accessed directly from the grounds. The nearest village, Lessac, is 2.5 km away.

The historic buildings – manor house, “dépendance”, farmstead, stables and mill – were constructed around 1860. Over the past years, a number of experimental buildings were erected within the context of the workshop programme that present a fascinating contrast to the traditional buildings: three bamboo houses by the Colombian architect Simon Velez and a garden pavilion constructed from wood and cardboard by Shigeru Ban of Japan. Both architects represented their countries with buildings at Expo 2000.
 
The quiet and freedom offered by the natural setting are what give Boisbuchet its particular charm and appeal. Back in the 19th century, a landscape park was laid out at Boisbuchet featuring numerous, often rare types of plants. It seamlessly passes through the hilly woods and across the meadows where horses, donkeys and sheep graze. Today the estate is run according to ecological principles and the feeding of human guests and animal residents is largely provided from resources produced on site.