On these tours, Jean-Michel Moutard invites you to discover Seillans through its history, heritage, and built landscapes. Each route is based on photographs, postcards, and archival documents, shedding light on the village of yesterday and enriching the way we see its places today.
Activity 1 - Two hours - The Seillans Perfume House and the story of Jeanne Villers de La Faye
- This tour takes you into a distinctive chapter in the history of Seillans, through the adventure of the perfume house and the fate of Jeanne Villers de La Faye. A major figure in local life, this remarkable woman has a deep bond with the village and helped permanently shape its appearance.
- Along the route, Jean-Michel Moutard traces the history of this family, the rise of the perfume house, and the major changes Seillans underwent between the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The arrival of the telephone and electricity, local agricultural developments, and the role played by this extraordinary personality come together in a lively, well-documented, and vividly human 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 to life the major stages of its history through its stones, 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 of which tell the story of life in Seillans over the centuries. The tour also explores some of the more singular episodes in its development, showing how heritage, local life, and individual initiatives have intertwined over time.
Activity 3 - Two hours - The circuit of the dry-stone huts
- With this tour, Jean-Michel Moutard takes you to discover the bories of Seillans, these dry-stone shelters that bear witness to an ancient rural world and remarkable vernacular know-how. The village is said to have more than eighty of them, scattered across its immediate surroundings.
- The route helps you better understand the purpose of these structures: shelters for workers, storage spaces for tools, and 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 landscape 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 notable figures.
Through old documents, archives, photographs, and local accounts, he seeks to bring the village’s memory back to life with precision and passion. A keen hiker and lover of nature, he looks at Seillans through a lens that is at once historical, sensitive, and deeply rooted in the local area.
Seillans is a perched 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 little squares tell an ancient story, shaped over the centuries around a fortified core established on the slopes of Mount Auzière.
Listed among The Most Beautiful Villages of France since 1991, Seillans charms visitors as much with the beauty of its stones as with 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.