There is a lovely "farm" for children close to the village of Lansargues, at about 45 min from the historical center of Montpellier by car. The place is called "Les petits fermiers du pays de l'Or", or the paradise of Lansargues...
The pays de l'Or are not a french Eldorado, though children can play the gold panners on a pond and look for small stones painted in gold. The "pays de l'Or" is an area englobing various villages and cities maily on the north of the Etang de l'Or, a 30 km² pond whose occitan name, Estanh de l'Òrt, means "garden's pond". Big garden.
"Paradise of Lansargues" is a reference to the Petit Paradis, first farm of the kind in the surroundings. The second farm was certainly founded by some ex-workers of the Petit Paradis, whose aim was to do about the same, better.
Did they succeed?
I would be tempted to say so.
The fruits & vegetable garden is lovely, and one can pick up food. There are right now many varieties, esp. ancient, of tomatoes, eggplants, etc.
Children can have fun with coton, seeds, collect Job's tears as beads...
And the eggs of the local hens are delightfull. The shells have various shapes and tones, but the eggs are wonderfully tasty.
Everything is extremely well kept, with no water waste.
The animals are obviously happy. They have nice places, shadowy, clean - in a natural way. No traces of abnormal fights or feather pecking: fallen feathers came from the peacocks who losed their tails, growing chicks, ducks who recently nested...
The animals have space, and don't have to share it. They are no beggars: children receive a cup of animal food at the entrance and can't get more; the goats manage know all the ways of emptying a cup brought by a little human, but their appetite isn't excessive, they aren't allowed out of their "island" around/on/under the tables; ducklings don't accept to be caught for bread by tiny sailors; piglets don't finish ice-creams.
If the children want to get closer to the animals, they have to follow some workshop... This seems fair. Of course, everything is done in order to interest them.
Grown-ups naturally have to take a boat and row. Lovely life in and around (truits, etc.).
Kids will also enjoy riding Anis (down here), Ratatouille, etc... for 3€ (for the fuel - very worthwhile).
They will look for gold... and hopefully get a diploma, if not their name on the record's board.
They will get some activity, and learn a few useful rules like: do not jump on the slide before the previous kid lets the way free.
We felt as welcome as the insects of Simon's hotel. Your turn!
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