La Ferme du Pré in Vassieux-en-Vercors
Imagine being executives in the marketing and finance sectors and deciding one fine day to give it all up and follow a new career path. That is exactly what happened to Marion and Thomas Ottenheimer in 2008, when she gave up her marketing job and he his job in finance to set up a new business in Vassieux-en-Vercors, where they had taken over a gîte housed within a farmhouse that had been rebuilt after the Second World War, when the village was destroyed by the Nazis in July 1944.
“Our intention was to combine a calmer lifestyle with a business activity,” explains Marion Ottenheimer. “I continue to do some consulting and training work because that enables me to keep in touch with the world of business. Our professional experience have helped reassure our clients that we know what we’re talking about, because we understand the problems faced by business people when they’re travelling away from home”. La Ferme du Pré has effectively positioned itself on the seminar market off the beaten track yet only two and a quarter hours from Lyon, an hour and a quarter from Grenoble and a mere hour away from Valence. The site consists of two buildings with capacity for 56 beds, of which 30 are in the gîte itself and another 26 in the neighbouring farmhouse. The gîte also offers a 60m² meeting room which can host meetings for up to 30 people or presentations for up to 50. Meals, featuring traditional family recipes based on local ingredients such as ravioli and caillettes, are served in the farmhouse.
“We are more like a mountain refuge than a 5* property,” the owner points out. “Currently, most of the groups that we’ve had come here have numbered between 15 and 20 people. They spend two days on site with a working session and then a day of activities with a wide range of choices available : nature ramble, dog sledding, hiking with dogs during the snowy months or in the summer, ski biking, kitesurfing at Font d’Urle, ski joëring, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, caving, via ferrata at the Col du Rousset, horse trekking, tree-top adventure trail, sophrology, yoga, wellbeing through painting, land art, dancing, sculpture, drama workshops to improve communication skills, body-mind centring, exploration of the main Resistance sites in the area and of the flint works in Vassieux, etc…”
A seminar based on 20 participants will cost from 75 € per person (inclusive of gîte and farmhouse, welcome coffee, two refreshment breaks, lunch, dinner, breakfast and accommodation).
04 75 48 27 66
