The pandemic and its little sister, the health crisis, promised a change of life, closer to nature.
Mathieu Kerdraon and Augustin Zeller had thought about it long before.
On October 3, they opened the Domaine de Youza, a living space populated by
ecolodges
whose leitmotif could be: “Return to contemplation”.
“Relearn to do nothing and marvel”, as they say.
In the heart of the forest of Ivry, in the town of La Couture-Boussey, about thirty kilometers from Évreux and also from Mantes-la-Jolie, and the friends rent 32 hectares of forest where there was an abandoned mini-golf course.
On an area of 9.5 hectares, they had eighteen 100% French wooden huts built, 13 to 5 meters high, as well as a living space equipped with a seminar room, a kitchen and of a restaurant.
"All with a panoramic view of the undergrowth", presents Augustin.
Thermal vehicles prohibited in the forest
Nearby, a shelter houses carts and electric bikes, because to dive into the forest, thermal vehicles are prohibited.
In this natural space, the will of the entrepreneurs is to bring “a double experience to groups, families or couples, for a night, a weekend or a week.
They will be able to benefit from three versions of
ecolodges,
on one level, in height and also one for people with reduced mobility, all separated by about fifty meters to preserve privacy.
And heated by wood stoves.
Every morning, breakfast will be left on the porch and guests will have the option of reserving packed lunches or accessing brunch and the wood-fired kitchen.
From there, they will live in the forest, with a 16-hectare natural and wild playground connected to the greenway to reach the activities and surrounding communities by bike.
"We have received the Label Accueil Vélo for this," says Mathieu.
The Domaine de Youza will be open all year except in January for maintenance.
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A former lawyer and marketing advisor, the duo started looking for land more than two years ago.
They wanted to come together on local tourism.
It was a call for projects from the Évreux Portes de Normandie agglomeration community that accelerated everything: “For this land classified as Natural Leisure, the community was looking for an environmental project, an idea of green tourism.
Under the leadership of the Alliance firm, which studied the potential and expressed the possibility of setting up unusual accommodation, it launched a call for projects which we won”.
In September 2019, the friends then visited the place "and we immediately flashed on this superb light, this young and mixed forest which has a lot of future".
But it was, inevitably, the beginning of a long and tedious journey at the beginning of which they first had to find more than three million euros, “because we only had 1/6 in our own funds.
Now, three banks in the Eure strongly believe in it.
We also had a guaranteed loan from the BPI and received grants from Évreux Portes de Normandie and Europe.
It was truly an alignment of common wills”.
“No tree felling, only sanitary cuts”
On the strength of their convictions on respect for the environment and biodiversity, Augustin and Mathieu trusted the Parisian architect Rodolphe Albert of the firm 115 Architecture for the installation of the cabins.
"Because we didn't want any slaughter.
Only sanitary cuts.
Here, there will be no logging.
We don't build anything in the trees and the paths are nature trails.
We integrated into the natural environment with the help of the DREAL and the ONF.
A forest expert accompanies us on our forest management plan.
We met nearly 150 criteria.
As a result, we won the Green Key Label.
»
Eight employees have already taken up their duties and the majority live in neighboring villages.
To book at the Domaine de Youza, whose name is "a festive exclamation or even a reference to the novel by Youngas Baltouchis, The saga of Youza, a man entrenched in a territory where he will welcome refugees from several revolutions", the prices start at 153 euros per night per cabin, depending on the season.
A start for friends who are already thinking of other havens of peace, in Seine-et-Marne and Auvergne.
www.youza.fr
