Domaine du Sauvage

Halfway between Le Puy-en-Velay and Aubrac, on the "Via Podensis", more than 700 years of history tell the story of the Domaine du Sauvage, which entered the property of the Haute-Loire county in 1976. The "Sauvage", from the Latin "silvaticum" refers to a forest place. In 1216, a hospital was donated to Hôtel-Dieu du Puy by William II, Bishop of Mende, on the Margeride massif. During the Middle Ages, the estate was used for the transhumance of sheep and for the breeding of cattle necessary for the running of the Hôtel-Dieu. At the end of the 14th century, the cattle herd numbered 120 to 200 animals. Le Sauvage became the property (1857) of the Chirac family (former president). This made the Sauvage a reference farm between the two wars, thanks in particular to the autonomous production of electricity, which allowed manure to be evacuated into the stables by wagons and chain systems. Today, two cottages can accommodate about forty pilgrims and hikers along the Way of Santiago de Compostela that crosses the estate. Since 2011, an inn and a sales outlet, built in the former stables and barn, are managed by a group of 40 farmers from Margeride.