Beauceron farms have square yards!

Big Farm of Beauce

On the vast agricultural spaces of the Beauce, where cereals, vegetables, oilseeds and medicinal plants are grown, the built heritage is mainly made up of villages and some isolated farms

The size of the farms and the strength of the winds made it necessary to protect themselves from the outside world by grouping the large buildings around closed courtyards. Beauceron farms are therefore called “square courtyard farms”.

The typology of the buildings, whose facades are turned inwards, also makes it possible to protect against the intrusion of brigands who were active in Beauce like a famous band at the end of the 19th century.

Where are the animals?

In the past, Beauceron farms consisted of hen houses, stables, cowsheds, sheepfolds and sometimes piggeries.

The enclosed courtyard prevented livestock from wandering into the unenclosed fields at night.

Since the 50’s the mecanisation animals are no longer useful for everyday tasks, now they use tractor. And the sheeps disappear with chimical fertilizers…

The role of the Dovecotes

Dovecotes can still be seen today in some Beauceron farms. The size of the dovecotes was proportional to the size of the properties, and therefore to the importance of the lords to whom they belonged.

A right reserved for the lords until the revolution, pigeon breeding was, for centuries, an essential element of the local economy.

Take advantage of your stay to visit the dovecote of the château de Villeprévost in which reproductions of the death masks of the condemned prisoners of the brigands of Orgères are displayed.