Forgetting for a while the tumult of an overly urban life, being as close as possible to nature, as in a bubble. This is the principle by Nutchel, the first “forest village” in France set up by a Luxembourg tourist operator of the same name. Nearly forty tourist cabins equipped with the only luxury necessary, are emerging on the immediate edge of the
Donon national forest, in Plaine in the Bruche valley (Bas-Rhin).
Between pines, oaks and maple trees, this new kind of tourist complex gives pride of place to ecology and tranquility without however conceding to comfort, the viability of the economic model requires. For six months, the workers have been busy assembling the eight-ton cabins and organizing a scenography, understanding a plant covering and a visual environment adapted to each of them. The opening is scheduled for October 22 and targets a regional urban clientele, but also Belgian, German and Swiss.
In the middle of nature
Based on the wasteland of a VVF holiday center from the 1970s, 19 cabins have already been installed out of the 37 planned. On seven hectares, including 3.6 hectares of forest, one of the site’s challenges for young tourist operators was the “renaturation” of the site, which covers 50% of the area. Because the idea behind this vast project of 3.5 million euros of investment underlines Clémence Rousseau-Dumarcet and Bernard Van Laethem, co-founders of the company, “was to find a magnificent and appropriate site in the midst of nature but also to carry a project of “deartificialisation” ”. That is to say, clean up a site and give back its part to nature. Moreover, the huts have no footprint and can in the future disappear if necessary. They are simply anchored on stakes. The idea was “to slip into nature while respecting it”, details Bernard Van Laethem.
More than sixty old concrete bungalows glued to each other as was intended in the 1970s have been destroyed. These areas are now being “revegetated” with 3,700 trees that are or will be planted during the year. The cleaning of the site amounts to 7,800 m³ of waste, or the equivalent of a train of 250 wagons, likes to picture Bernard Van Laethem. And no less than 61 tonnes of asbestos have been reprocessed. As for the old outdoor swimming pool, its use will be a bit diverted and will not be heated but coupled with Nordic baths, something to think of the moment differently.
The cabins, all decorated with a large bay window and some overlooking the Bruche valley when they are not hidden in the forest, have a studied decoration, warm but basic in the spirit of “glamping” underlines Clémence Rousseau- Dumarcet. They have four or six beds depending on the model. Sufficiently equipped to cook, but also to warm up with a wood stove which contributes to the desire to change the rhythm of life. Just like the absence of a television or WiFi, or even a refrigerator, replaced by a sort of cooler. Time to unwind for a few days.