© Terre Blanche

At the end of the 1990s, Dietmar Hopp discovered the Terre Blanche site. He then experiences a real fascination for what was then a wasteland. Passionate golfer, the German businessman suddenly realizes what can be imagined and achieved in this immense space. Rather than opting for mechanical, expensive and non-selective clearing, Terre Blanche very quickly set up a somewhat special clearing brigade made up of four donkeys. Animals have the advantage of selecting the plants to be cleared, but also of recycling them in a natural way without disturbing the biotope and the existing fauna.

A veritable Garden of Eden, Terre Blanche also hosts beehives on its soil and today produces its own honey. As everyone knows, bees are often the first visible indicator of the good ecological health of natural spaces. Their mass presence also testifies to the good practices implemented on the site, thanks to the reasoned use of ecological phytosanitary products but also pharmaceuticals. Bees are also one of the best vehicles for raising awareness among younger generations about the absolute need to maintain, in all circumstances, a biotope conducive to their pollination mission, without which all life on earth would be impossible.

Thus, discovery workshops are organized each year at the Kids' club in order to allow children to understand the role of bees and the process of making honey. Every morning at breakfast a wonderful nectar is served to the customers. It is a honey of flowers from Provence, soft and creamy, with a beautiful golden color. The gold of life in a way ...

Woody strips

Because to maintain a landscape perception from the villages of Haut Var, Terre Blanche has implemented measures intended to maintain the plant cover. To do this, homogeneous wooded strips around the built-up areas have been maintained, preserved, and even densified. They advantageously make it possible to maintain a bocage landscape conducive to high biological diversity and avian exchanges with the surrounding lakes and forests.

Prior to any intervention on the site, Terre Blanche conducted a phyto-sociological study in order to identify aquatic and wet habitats, Mediterranean temporary pools, forest stands and define the issues of conservation of natural habitats and rare species to be protected. These studies have made it possible to build an eco-responsible approach to maintain a balance between the project's commercial objectives and the preservation of existing biological diversity. So for its irrigation water needs, Terre Blanche uses non-potable water from the Verdon Canal. This water stored in the lake of Saint Cassien has a dual purpose. It serves both as a hydroelectric dam but also as a water reservoir to supply the township. It thus relieves fragile local resources while guaranteeing less withdrawals from groundwater and waterways. Terre Blanche buys this untreated water and thus refrains from drawing on the water table.

Endemic species

In the event of a power cut, two emergency boreholes can be mobilized by Terre Blanche for its immediate water needs by drawing from the water table under the control of the prefectural authorities. The untreated raw water used for irrigation is then drawn from the natural resource that constitutes the Verdon canal. For their part, 15 clipping basins created by Terre Blanche, control, delay and calibrate the volumes of water reintroduced into the natural environment.
The Albatross Golf Performance Center play area is one of the main clipping pools on Terre Blanche. With a capacity of 5.000 m3, this conch-shaped clipper basin was shaped by the contribution of soil from the excavated earth from the various earthworks of the development programs.

Terre Blanche is finally interested in the preservation of wildlife. For example, the site has set up a reintroduction program for endemic species, such as swans and geese. Koi carp and black bass, in predefined numbers, have for example been introduced into storage lakes to maintain a strict ecological balance. In this regard, Lake Saint-Cassien, a few kilometers from the resort, is an exceptional wildlife reserve. Little by little, a veritable air corridor was formed with the passage of many birds, migratory or not, such as mallards and waders, which now regularly frequent the site.

David Raynal

Terre Blanche
3100 Bagnols-en-Forêt road
83440 Tourrettes, Provence-Côte-d'Azur
+ 33 (0) 4 94 39 90 00
reservations.tbhotel@terre-blanche.com

To know more : https://www.terre-blanche.com

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