Our mountain region is home to producers who use their know-how to make fresh, seasonal local produce!
Cows’, goats’ and sheep’s cheeses… organically grown vegetables, free-range eggs, snails, aromatic and medicinal plants, craft beers, honeys, sweet and savoury shortbread – you’ll find their various products below, which we hope will tantalise your taste buds!
(Source: agriculture.gouv.fr)
When she was little, Geneviève dreamed of going to the mountains and becoming a shepherdess. At the age of 20, she met the man who was to become her husband and who was… a shepherd! They set up as dairy farmers for 20 years in the Beaufortain region, bringing up their 3 children at the same time. Unfortunately, the pressure of land ownership forced them to adopt a way of working that was not their own, forcing them to look elsewhere, first in the Tarentaise, then in the Maurienne… In 2020, Pascal and Geneviève fell in love with the hamlet of Montdenis. They took over a dairy farm and the adventure began again!
Croq’Champs is Claire and Ludo, both rural engineers. After several years’ experience in their field, they decided to switch to market gardening.
After setting up their first business as part of a farming cooperative in the Drôme, in 2020 they took over an old inn in Saint-Alban-d’Hurtières. There, they set up a market garden farm where they grow a hectare of diversified vegetables using agro-ecology principles.
Their produce is sold directly from the farm, in their grocery shop. Claire and Ludo go one step further: they are farmer-cooks!
They process their own produce and offer it to eat in or take away.
Driven by the desire to create a lively, friendly place, they have made Croq’Champs a place where you can enjoy good local produce in a welcoming atmosphere.
Guillaume has a dual career: as head of technical services for his local authority and as a beekeeper in the Glandon valley for the last ten years. He was introduced to beekeeping by his father, a sheep and ewe farmer who owned a few hives. Guillaume is a demanding mountain beekeeper, adapted to the specific characteristics of the area.
With around a hundred hives, he breeds his swarms and moves his apiaries according to flowering, altitude and weather conditions. He offers a wide range of honeys: spring, summer, forest and high mountain, harvested at altitudes of over 1,900 metres from specific alpine flowers. He also produces honey candles and honey sweets.
His passion is now shared with his son Noé, who has joined him in this beekeeping adventure.
Jean-Pierre took over the family farm in Saint-Avre in 1990. He is the fifth generation to perpetuate this know-how. His herd comprises 130 Tarine cows for milk production.
In winter, the cows stay on the farm on the plains, fed by hay harvested during the summer. As soon as the weather warms up, they go up to the Col de la Madeleine, where they are milked directly on the mountain pasture. All the milk is then processed and matured on the farm.
The whole family participates in the farm work. Everyone contributes their know-how and energy to keep the farm alive with the rhythm of the seasons, perpetuating the skills handed down from generation to generation.
But this daily work would not be possible without the invaluable commitment of the long-serving employees, who are an integral part of the soul of the farm.
Jean-Pierre produces Beaufort PDO, farmhouse tomme, raclette and fresh produce, all of which you can find in the shop.
The shop has been set up on site, allowing direct sales of the farm’s cheeses as well as other local products. This proximity offers valuable feedback from customers and strengthens the bond with consumers.
In 2018, Delphine and Ludovic decided to return to Savoie, to Saint-Alban-d’Hurtières, after a first professional life in Moselle. With a keen interest in nature and a firm belief in the benefits it can have for the human body, they embarked on a conversion project centred on the cultivation of aromatic and medicinal plants (PPAM), known for their therapeutic virtues, as well as an orchard and a berry plantation. Delphine is taking a BPREA (vocational training diploma) and training in phytotherapy to master the cultivation and benefits of these plants, while Ludovic is specialising in the art of grafting to enrich their orchard. Their production is complemented by an apiary. In 2021, they set up Hurtirêves, a farm where they grow and process around thirty medicinal plants over 2 hectares, as well as around ten varieties of fruit trees, giving preference to old breeds. They produce organic herbal teas, syrups, jellies and liqueurs, as well as honey.
They also offer tours of the farm, as well as on-farm workshops: honey extraction-apéro workshop, and distillation of plants into essential oils.
Portrait of Delphine and Ludovic who run the Hurtireves farm, growing medicinal plants and flowers.
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Yoann has always loved beer, but little did he know that one day he would open his own craft brewery. Previously a lorry driver and ski instructor in winter, he decided to devote himself entirely to his passion and create what he loved. It was in Saint-Julien-Montdenis that he took the gamble of converting a former car garage into a brewery. In 2022, he opened the Brasserie L’Étendard, and 2 years later, Méline joined the project, buying the business and launching a new identity: the Brasserie des Neiges.
