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It was 2018 and Romain Avy was living in the UK, working as a mechanical engineer, when he got the call to come home to Provence.
After farming the same land for four generations, his family
had made the extremely difficult decision to give up on agriculture and convert
the buildings on their vast St. Remy property for tourism.
This month, Romain (now 35), his brother Laurent and his dad
Remi will put the finishing touches on the sixth (and probably final) cottage
on this idyllic, historic domaine. Provence is filled with fantastic places to
stay and year to year it’s impossible to keep up with all the new ones. But I
recently visited the Avys' place for the first time and knew immediately I
wanted to tell you about it!
Mas Neuf Romanin (aka Mas 9 Romanin) consists of six houses and apartments of various
sizes, five of them with private pools, all built in and around the enormous old
farmhouse and its outbuildings. Surrounding them are 50 hectares (120 acres) of
farmland that once produced vast quantities of apples, pears and wine grapes.
Back in the day, the Avys also made and sold their own wine.
But as the years passed, it became clear that, for a number
of reasons, farming here was no longer sustainable, at least not for this family.
Today virtually all their fields are laying fallow.
As far as family farms go, 100-plus years is a very-good
run…but still.
Although no one quite knows when the big mas (farmhouse) was
originally built--there’s a Roman fountain on the property--Romain’s great
grandfather Roger starting farming here around 1910 or 1920. Later, when
Romain’s grandparents decided to move off the property and into the village, grand-père
Robert was still at the farm every day. Romain grew up in a house across the
street, where his mom now lives. He remembers playing hide and seek in the gite
that’s now called Mamy, in honor of his grand-mère.
Romain earned his engineering degree in Toulon, then took
himself off to the UK at age 22, primarily to improve his English. His three-month
stay became five years and he was happily working in the auto industry when
that call came beckoning him home. With help from a small crew of local
artisans, he and his dad set to work and the first gite, called Papy, had just
been finished when Covid hit France in early 2020. Tourism came to a screeching
halt but construction did not; by the time people could travel again, a few
more pretty gites had been finished…just about one every year. The sixth will
be ready for renters next month.
Ranging in size from one to five bedrooms, they’re bright,
warm and inviting…blending rustic charm with relaxed elegance while grounded in
the farm’s rich history. Old materials were repurposed when possible. For
example Romain fronted new kitchen drawers in one gite with wood from the old
building itself, while wood beams from an old roof were transformed into a
dining table. One set of bedside tables was crafted from a massive fallen plane
tree branch; another was made from Romain’s grandmother’s travailleuse,
which stored threads and needles for sewing.
Each gite is unique but common elements include art-glass
lighting, splashes of color, pretty wallpaper accents and natural materials
such as stone, rattan, terra cotta, leather and wood.
Sandrine Chabaud, a family friend, helped with interior
design.
All the gites have modern kitchens, dishwashers, washing
machines and convertible air conditioning/heating units which means they can be rented year round. The
largest gite, which sleeps 12, has a grand fireplace.
With the exception of one on the second-floor of the mas, the
cottages all have private outdoor terraces with dining tables and a barbecue or
plancha. And all but one have a private pool.
While other family members are involved in the business in various
ways, it’s Romain who runs the show. He’ll confirm your reservation, answer
your questions and probably be there to greet you and get you settled. He’ll be
happy to suggest restaurants and the best sites to visit, around St. Remy and
across Provence. While the lodgings here are marketed as “self-catering,”
Romain will do whatever he can to make sure you have a wonderful stay.
Guests are welcome to wander into “the museum”: an open barn
filled with relics such as a pre-war Caterpillar D2 (hidden successfully from
the Nazis by Romain’s grandfather) and a boat motor that the family says was used
during the debarquement, in either Normandy or Provence. Romain also
remembers hearing that the pétanque pitch was originally dug out by German
POWs. A huge old scale that weighed fruit-filled tractors sits in the
forecourt.
The artist Christian Manoury has his studio at one end of the
property and is happy to show his work and talk art with interested
visitors. (To reach him: +33 6 75 09 72 89, insideout13@wanadoo.fr, @christan.manoury).
Mas Neuf Romanin is located on one my favorite roads in St.
Remy: gently curving, heavily wooded, very agricultural and very beautiful.
When heading home from anywhere east of St. Remy, I often turn off the D99 and
take this old road, the Ancienne Voie Aurelia, instead. Beautiful horses graze
in pretty pastures to the north; farms and old homes, framed by old plane trees
and towering cypress, line the road on the south…the Alpilles Mountains in the
distance. The light, particularly just before sunset, is stunning.
This is a beautiful area for hiking and biking. The 12th-century
chapel Notre dame de Romanin is a stone’s throw away. At the Aérodrome de Romanin, our tiny
airport, the Aeroclub de St. Remy offers “baptismal” glider flights
and a flight school for beginning and advanced glider pilots. On days when the
wind and weather are just right, you'll see the planes circling gracefully
over the mountains.
All around Mas 9 Romanin, other farms are still producing
apples, pears, olives and wine grapes. In fact the Avy’s neighbors include two
of the finest wine producers in the region: Domaine Hauvette (not open for visits, tasting or sales)
and the historic Chateau Romanin (very much open for all three things
and more). Not far away in either direction you’ll find the wineries Domaine Milan,
Domaine d’Eole and others.
And even though his family is no longer farming, Romain still
has his hand in, through a side business he launched last year. Called Mon Petit Market, it’s designed to promote the products of local farms and food producers,
mostly within a 30 km radius. Paniers (baskets) with different themes can be
delivered to guests on the property and elsewhere. He plans to give back a
portion of proceeds to local producers.
What will happen to the Avy family’s fertile farmland in coming years remains to be seen. It sits in the Alpilles Natural Regional Park and, as
a result, is highly protected, with strict rules about what it can
and can’t be used for. Romain and his partner Amandine welcomed their first child,
a baby boy named Eloi, in February, but Romain says it’s very unlikely that the
fifth generation will ever end up farming here.
In the meantime, the agritourism business is thriving: bookings are strong and reviews are great. So if all of this sounds appealing to you, check the website and reserve soon! And please tell Romain I sent you! I’m so happy he shared his family’s touching story with me…and I wish him much happiness and success in the years to come!
Mas9Romanin.fr/en
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