Why will this blog talk about cycling, biodiversity, local producers, and human encounters all at once?
Because these subjects are at the heart of the projects we are developing at the Moulin de Babel.
From the very start of our journey, the Moulin has become much more than a simple place to stay. Conversations here revolve around: cycling trips, nature, food, heritage, local encounters and projects.
To understand why these subjects occupy such an important place in our daily lives, we need to go back to what gives the place its identity.
Le Moulin de Babel, a project inspired by encounters
At Moulin de Babel, we love to discover the world around us. This might be a landscape encountered on a walk, a wild plant spotted by the pond, a local recipe shared by a producer, or a story told by a traveller from another country.
In just a few years, the Moulin de Babel has allowed us to meet visitors from all five continents. Some encounters last only an evening, others a few days, but each one brings a story, a discovery, or a new way of looking at the world.
This diversity of human experiences fascinates us as much as the diversity of life itself. Whether it's plants, birds, insects, or the people we encounter, we share the same desire: to understand, to learn, and to remain curious.
It's also one of the reasons we chose the name Babel. For us, it symbolises openness, diversity, and the ability to communicate despite differences in languages, cultures, or backgrounds.
Over time, three words have established themselves as a guiding principle: Discover – Observe – Share.
Discover A place, a culture or a new idea.
Observer what surrounds us with more attention.
Share What we have learned, loved, or simply found beautiful.
This is particularly the case with our meeting with Danièle de Our Nature Through the Seasons. What began with discussions about wild plants and biodiversity has gradually led to several joint projects: guided walks around the large pond to discover plants, a floristic inventory of the Moulin de Babel, and soon workshops combining cooking and wild plants.
But Danièle is far from being the only person to have made a mark on the history of Moulin de Babel. Since the project began, numerous encounters have nourished, encouraged, inspired and helped us to move the adventure forward.
Thank you to Christophe and Sonia, Marjorie, Peer, Christophe, Clément and Caroline, Christine, Dominique, Piet and Agathe, Yolanda, Henriette, Pierre, Catherine, Rodolphe and Natacha, Nicolas and Anaïs, Amaury, Paco, Roxanne and Thomas, Sabrina and Julien, and to many others besides.
Le Moulin de Babel started as a family project, but it was built thanks to all those people who crossed our path and contributed, each in their own way, to giving it its current form.
This is what you will find in the Carnets du Moulin de Babel.
These articles will be a continuation of this adventure. You will find ideas for cycling trips, nature observations, encounters with local producers, recipes, discoveries about heritage, updates on the floristic inventory, and behind-the-scenes insights into projects coming to life throughout the seasons.
At their core, these Notebooks will primarily speak of curiosity: the kind that drives one to explore a territory, to better understand living things, or to meet those who make them thrive.
If these pages inspire you to slow down, observe more, or discover something new, then they will have found their purpose.
