Situated in the foothills of the Pilat Regional Natural Park, just above the Gier Valley and half-way between Lyon and Saint-Étienne, the Parc du Mollard at Châteauneuf is the Rhône-Alpes’ most recent addition to its range of venues for corporate meetings, workshops and other types of events.
The Parc boasts 24 hectares of grounds and a 19th C country house, former home to an industrial family from the Gier Valley. The “château” offers five rooms within the 660 m2 space, the largest of which is 300 m2, with capacity for up to 250 people for a meeting. The site also offers WiFi in all of its rooms, a dining room which is served by outside caterers (Rioufreyt, Declerck, Bayle), or restaurateurs (La Table d’Elsa in Lorette, Le Restaurant des Ambassadeurs in Saint-Chamond, La Renaissance in Rive-de-Gier, Piermic Fatet in Saint-Étienne).
All of them work regularly with the events agency Ici’séParfè which negotiated an exclusive partnership with Châteauneuf’s local authorities to use the site during the week. “Given the size of the grounds, we can organise a whole range of different sporting and recreational activities on site,” explains Alice Uni, the agency’s owner. “Options include orienteering, treasure hunts as well as team games such as archery, baseball, hot-air ballooning, tennis, riding, mountain biking and off-road scooters. We’re also just ten minutes or so from the priory in Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez where we can organise medieval evenings with troubadours and banquets. Last but not least, depending our our clients’ specific requirements, we can also provide themed hikes based on the the fauna and flora of the Pilat or wine-tasting evenings…”
Â
The wine-tasting evenings are planned once every two months and are open to about 15 participants who pay 59 € each for a meal and tasting. The “château” is also open for events promoting the arts (painting and theatre in particular) as well as laughter therapy courses developed by Alice Uni, who is a professional laughter therapist. Cookery courses based on specific themes (such as making foie gras) are also often scheduled on the programme… In addition to the regular programme of events, the Ici séParfè agency also uses the site for companies or community groups who want to film their own “lip dub”, video clips involving lip synching and audio dubbing “You Tube-style” which provide an excellent team-building exercise…
Ici’séParfè, in Châteauneuf (Loire)
Tel.: 00 33 (0)6 80 11 02 96
