Change of rhythm at Courmettes

2 December 2021

The Courmettes team during their “Team Day” ©Coline Raillon

Last residentials, last marriages… first frosts… Each year autumn at Courmettes is a season of transition, but also one for review.

The last group and a review for the team

After a final week at the end of October, when we had the pleasure of welcoming a wonderful group of friends from A Rocha in the Netherlands, November finally gave us the opportunity to sit down for a team day to take stock of the summer. We were able to celebrate the progress made, particularly in the organisation of our residential weeks, and also to consider the points to improve for an even better season in 2022.

A beautiful day for the A Rocha Netherlands visitors

Last month was also the occasion to invite our friends and local volunteers for a meal together, to show our gratitude for their commitment to Les Courmettes; some help us regularly, others occasionally, whether it is for the reception, the kitchen, in the garden, for DIY, or anything else; we hope to see them again and thank them once more!

Now, the marquee is dismantled, well sheltered until next spring, the freezers emptied, and the dormitories silent…

Towards the end of the roofing work

But make no mistake, Courmettes is far from being asleep! Behind the scenes, many projects are continuing, others are taking shape.

So if there is one inconvenience that the team is – almost – happy to put up with, it is that of not having a roof over our common room for a few days, the time it will take to finally complete the last stage of the roof renovation! This project, which began in 2018 with the complete replacement of the roof of the main building, will be completed this winter with the last part, covering the ‘maisonette’. No more water leaks or bowls everywhere! We are delighted….

Fruitful partnerships

Courmettes is of course open to the outside world, including local partners who also find a particularly favourable setting by coming to the centre. This is the case with the Parc Naturel Régional des Préalpes d’Azur, whose staff came several times this autumn to work with some members of the team on improving certain areas around our buildings. We have made an inventory of the plants currently in place, not always local (!) but inherited from Courmettes’ past. While waiting to decide on their future, we have planted several plants that are more adapted or representative of the local flora. We hope that they will attract a few more butterflies next spring.

Another example of Courmettes’ fruitful collaboration with its local environment is the partnership with a Nice-based training institute for the BTS (‘Brevet de Technicien Supérieur’, a higher education qualification) Gestion et Protection de la Nature (management and protection of nature). The students who came for a first day last month were able to discover a small part of the estate and try their hand at some field work around its wetlands. Other visits are planned, which should allow an interesting exchange of knowledge for everyone.

Finally, our gîtes remain open of course, and even if the nature outings for the general public are suspended during the winter, there is always the possibility of coming for a day outing (particularly for schoolchildren, for whom the range of activities has recently been expanded), or of requesting a ‘private’ outing, organised for individuals.

Summer is over, winter is coming. The Courmettes ‘hive’ adapts to the seasons…