On these tours, Jean-Michel Moutard invites you to discover Seillans through its history, its heritage, and its built landscapes. Each route is based on photographs, postcards, and period documents, shedding light on the village of yesterday and enriching the way its places are seen today.
Activity 1 - Two hours - The Seillans perfumery and the story of Jeanne Villers de La Faye
- This tour takes you into a distinctive chapter of Seillans’ history, through the adventure of the perfumery and the life of Jeanne Villers de La Faye. A major figure in local life, this remarkable woman had a deep connection with the village and helped transform its appearance in lasting ways.
- Along the way, Jean-Michel Moutard recounts the history of this family, the rise of the perfumery, and the major changes Seillans experienced between the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The arrival of the telephone and electricity, local agricultural dynamics, and the role played by this exceptional figure combine to create a lively, well-documented, and vividly told tour.
Activity 2 - Two hours - Seillans, from the Middle Ages to the present day
- This tour offers a sensitive discovery of Seillans’ heritage, from its medieval origins to more recent transformations. As you walk through the village lanes, Jean-Michel Moutard brings its great historical milestones to life through its stonework, gates, buildings, and traces of everyday life.
- The route notably includes the Saracen Gate, Saint-Léger Church, the village’s old streets, fountains, washhouses, and the bread oven, all elements that tell the story of Seillans over the centuries. The tour also touches on some of the more unusual episodes in its development, showing how heritage, local life, and individual initiatives have intertwined over time.
Activity 3 - Two hours - The bories trail
- With this tour, Jean-Michel Moutard takes you to discover the bories of Seillans, these dry-stone shelters that bear witness to an old rural world and remarkable vernacular know-how. The village is said to have more than eighty of them, spread throughout its surrounding countryside.
- The route helps you better understand the function of these structures: shelters for workers, storage spaces for tools, places linked to the rhythm of agricultural work and the practical organization of rural life. Through their history, architecture, and construction context, an entire part of the Seillans area comes back into view.
Jean Michel, +10 years of experience
Storyteller
Curious and deeply attached to the heritage of Seillans, Jean-Michel Moutard has devoted many years to extensive research into the history of Seillans and its leading figures.
Through old documents, archives, photographs, and local stories, he works to bring the village’s memory back to life with accuracy and passion. An avid hiker and lover of nature, he brings to Seillans a perspective that is at once historical, sensitive, and deeply rooted in the local area.
Seillans is a hilltop medieval village in the Pays de Fayence, renowned for the richness of its historical, cultural, and architectural heritage. Its cobbled lanes, Saracen Gate, feudal castle, 12th-century church, fountains, and shady squares tell an ancient story, shaped over the centuries around a fortified core established on the slopes of Mount Auzière.
Listed among Les Plus Beaux Villages de France since 1991, Seillans captivates visitors as much by the beauty of its stonework as by the rare harmony between the village and the landscape that surrounds it.
Requirements:
Comfortable shoes
Cancellation policy:
Free cancellation if more than 48 hours before the experience starts. Between 48 and 24 hours before, 50% of the amount is due. Less than 24 hours before, cancellation is non-refundable.