On vous recommande vivement les adresses suivantes:

http://www.bourgaille.com

http://www.tipatou.fr

http://www.la-scierie-gites.com

http://www.france-voyage.com/chambres-hotes/chambre-chateau-benac-54040.htm

Nous avons décidé d’arrêter la location de chambres d’hôtes. Apres avoir accueilli des gens pendant 10 ans, on a opté pour un autre carriere professionnelle. Vous pouvez desormais nous rencontrer sur des marchées en Ariege, ou on vends des vins et du -très bon- fromage Hollandais. Pointez votre navigateur vers: http://www.fromage-hollandais.com pour en savoir plus.

Merci a tous, pour vos visites, séjours etc.

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After 10 years of running our bed and breakfast, we have decided to stop renting rooms. You can find us on several markets in the Ariege, selling wine and (Dutch) cheese. We would like to express gratitude to all our guests over the past 10 years. It has been great fun, but now its time to move on.

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Na ruim 10 jaar hebben we besloten om te stoppen met onze chambres d’hotes. U kunt ons tegenwoordig vinden op een aantal markten in de Ariege waar we wijn en Nederlandse kaas verkopen. Hartelijk dank aan al onze gasten. We hebben erg van uw aanwezigheid genoten.

We are closed for major renovations and maintaince on our bed and breakfast for the entire 2014 season. Hope to see you again in 2015.

From the first of july on, we offer you the possibility to join us on a 3 to 4 hour hike in the immediate surroundings of Bourg de Mat. We leave around 14h00 every monday afternoon either from the campsite or from the village of Serres sur Arget. You need only a pair of good hiking boots, a water bottle, a smile and maybe a little something to nibble on. The walk is open to everyone, free of charge. You do participate on your own responsability however. So make sure you are covered by a travel insurance.

Magimix Icecream maker

It’s important to live in the present. But sometimes you also have to think about the future. Make a longterm investment. Thats exactly what I did when I bought this Magimix icecreammaker. For as long as I can remember, I have been a huge fan of ice-cream. maybe I spent to much holidays in Italy or maybe its genetic, (my father loves ice-cream too…) nobody knows, but for me eating good ice cream is one of the great pleasures of life. Apart from that it is an excellent way of using some of our fruit harvest. I had an ice cream maker before, a system with a bowl that you need to freeze first overnight, but I never had good results with that. In 2011 I took the big leap and bought a proper ice-cream maker. I haven’t stopped since, after strawberry, raspberry, cherry, and blueberry ice-cream I went straight on with chocolate, coffee, pine nut, mango garlic and yoghurt ice-cream. With only these natural ingredients, the eggs from our chickens, fresh cream and some sugar we make delicious desserts which we serve at our « table d’hotes » Do you fancy coming over to taste?

It’s allready quite a few years that he is part of our kitchen staff: « the Berkel ». This slicer is in fact from Dutch origin. Berkel was a butcher in Rotterdam. His brother Wilhelm van Berkel (born february 5th 1868) invented and patented the automatic slicer. In 1898 he founded « Van Berkel’s Patent » a company that quickly became a huge success, even internationally. First with their meat slicer with movable base, but later on with balances too. In 2001 the company  was sold and is now called Avery Weigh-Tronix and specializes in industrial slicing and weighing equipment. The Berkel brand is still used today.

I was in doubt for a long time if I could justify buying a machine like this. Not only are they quite expensive, even secondhand, but they are also rather bulky. In a small kitchen like ours thats even a bigger problem than the price. Finally in 2005 I stumbled upon an ad on the internet for a good secondhand Berkel Model 834 at the right price. There was only one problem: the machine was in the Netherlands. Thankfully, not all that far from a good friends home, who arranged transport to the Ariege. Since than I have never questioned my sanity, because I use the Berkel so much, there is absolutely no doubt about its usefulness. We do not only slice various cured hams and other sausages on it, but also our bread, cheese, and even onions and tomatoes and so on. Ultra fine slices or thick ones, you name it, we slice it. And maybe I am a little crazy too, but just click on the picture to enlarge it. Isn’t it a beauty of a machine? I don’t need a Ferrari, I am perfectly happy with my sleek slicer.

Click for more: the official Berkel website

to be continued, next episode « the ice-cream maker »

Since the beginning of march, we have finished the construction of a polytunnel in our vegetable garden. We hope that this will allow us to produce some ripe tomatoes earlier on in the season. I have found a local supplier of tomato seeds that has more than 700 different varieties. For now I have seeded 13 different kinds. In addition to this I would like to try out a few other « exotics » like aubergines (eggplant), chili- and sweet peppers, that need more warmth than our mountain climate can provide. I also couldn’t resist to plant a few potatoes to see want that will bring at the beginning of june.

Its the time of the year for the mobile distillery to pass in the nearby village of Benac. We go there every year around this time, to have our (fermented) fruits distilled. Unfortunately we didn’t have any significant harvest this year, so we gladly accepted the invitation of some friends to come over and witness their « chauffe ». So on April 2nd we had a render vows at the mobile distillery for an aperitif, some bbq’ing and hopefully some little drops of eau de vie.

We don’t engage in illegal activities here. Mobile distilleries are a relatively well known phenomena in this part of the Pyrenees. There is at leads a dozen of them in the region. Until 1960 there used to be a privilege for farmers, called « le droit de 1000 degrées » that allowed them to produce « 1000 degrees » of alcohol per year without having to pay any tax. This right has been cancelled by the government, and has since been replaced for « half a right » for everybody. So if you grow fruit, you are allowed to ferment it and than have it distilled in the winter months by a qualified distiller, provided off course that you paid the duties to the Customs Office. An ancient tradition that we happily keep going. Cheers!

If you want to know more about this old profession look on the website of Zézé

To finalise your booking you can now send us your deposit through PayPal.