This very large family home is the perfect home base for your trip to the Dordogne region. With six large bedrooms featuring three king beds and three queen beds, guests enjoy plenty of space to relax. The six bathrooms offer both showers and bathtubs, making it easy to refresh after a day of exploring. Whether you’re gathering with family or friends, this awesome house provides a brilliant setting for your stay. Our home will help you feel at home while you're traveling in Dordogne Valley.


L'ermitage House History

Between 1790 and 1820, with the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, exports dwindled, and paper production declined in the valley. Many mills along the Couze were slow to modernize, and some closed.

Around 1880, Monsieur Prat, owner of the Moulin des Barreaux mill, began experimenting with a pharmacist in Bergerac on using a new type of paper to filter medicinal preparations. He invented a round filter paper which, pleated by hand, brought prosperity to his family and to the town of Couze.

A marriage alliance with the Dumas family, owners of a mill in Couze, gave rise to the Prat-Dumas dynasty, which became the leading manufacturer of filter papers in France and Europe for over a century.

Mr. Prat-Dumas, a master papermaker from Couze, reimagined ,extended a house built in 1760 to our current large and beautiful family home, nestled in the middle of the village of Varennes in 1880 name L'ermitage.

As an Elected mayor, he wished to bring some comfort to his constituents and decided to provide the nearby town Couze with a paper mill, the clear water of the Couzeau being suitable for this activity.

With this promising prospect in mind, a large purpose built paper-drying building was built adjacent to his house; the multiple openings were intended to create an air current conducive to drying the sheets of paper spread out on lines like pieces of linen. This paper-drying building now houses a large modern fully equipped gym.