Our story
The story behind Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée
Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée were not born from an idea. They were born from a journey.
A journey that began in Scotland, continued in France and grew richer in Spain, marked by successes, setbacks… and one conviction that has never changed.
On this page, the founder of Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée tells the story of the journey that led to this project.
Every journey leaves its mark.
This one was going to change our lives.
It all began in Scotland
Were Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée born in France?
Not quite. You might think this adventure began with the purchase of a first piece of land or the creation of an association. In fact, it began in Scotland.
In 2006, during a chance journey, I discovered a project that allowed anyone to create a symbolic connection with a small plot of nature. The idea spoke to me immediately. I even offered to become its representative in France.
That Scottish project was a source of inspiration. Today, Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée is a completely independent project.
A seed had been planted
Very quickly, the same question kept coming back to me.
“Why couldn’t something like this exist here?”
Those words would stay with me for years. They would become the true starting point of Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée.
So you wanted to create the same kind of project?
Yes. At first, that was exactly what I intended. I wanted others to be able to experience that feeling: the feeling of knowing that a small piece of nature exists somewhere. A place to think of when everyday life becomes too heavy. A place that reminds us that the world is greater than our immediate concerns.
The first obstacle
I then make an appointment with a lawyer specialising in land law. I leave convinced that the Scottish model cannot be transposed to France as it stands. I return home discouraged and, for a while, I put the idea aside.
Then the years go by. And little by little, I come to understand something essential.
It was not the dream that was impossible.
It was simply the way I was trying to make it happen.
Why did this project move you so deeply?
Because it was not only about nature. It was about a sense of connection.
I imagined someone living in a studio flat after a day at work. I imagined them thinking about “their” plot, somewhere in the Highlands. Closing their eyes. Breathing a little more deeply. Rediscovering, even from afar, a sense of space, calm and freedom.
That is the feeling I wanted to convey in the video on the home page. We see someone hemmed in by everyday life. Then, little by little, a living place enters their imagination. The walls seem to recede. The air begins to flow differently. For a few moments, nature becomes a presence once again.
This video is not about a plot of land.
It is about a connection.
Was it a real adventure?
I often smile when I think back on this adventure. I am rather reserved by nature and have never liked putting myself forward. If I agreed to speak about the project in the media at the time, it was not to draw attention to myself, but because I believed deeply in the idea and wanted to share it.
At that time, everything seemed to fall into place almost naturally. I was fortunate that several media outlets took an interest in the project, including the programme Comment ça va bien! hosted by Stéphane Bern. Thanks to this exposure, extraordinary encounters became possible.
Around 2015–2016, this is how the first plots, followed by the first estates, entered the story. I have never really regarded them as “my” plots of land. In my mind, they were already intended to be shared with a community that did not yet exist.
The living world finds its place again
And yet, something strikes you in Scotland…
Yes… Over the course of my visits, I discover a paradox that deeply affects me.
The Highlands offer some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. We imagine them wild, protected, almost untouched. Yet naturalists explain to me that nature is suffering there too. Pollinating insects can be surprisingly scarce. Wildflowers are becoming less visible. Plant diversity is declining. And when flowers disappear, an entire chain of life is weakened.
I realise that loving a landscape is not enough. We must also allow the living world to find its place again. From that moment on, my project evolves. I no longer seek only to create a connection between a person and a plot of land. I begin to imagine a true alliance between nature and human beings. This is where the spirit of Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée is born, although I do not yet know it.
So your vision changes completely…
Yes. Little by little, I stop thinking in terms of a simple symbolic plot. I begin to imagine living places: places where nature gradually regains all its richness, without being frozen in time or turned into a perfect garden.
I deeply believe that nature knows very well what to do… provided we give it time and support it thoughtfully. Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée were born from this conviction.
The women and men who join the organisation are not buying a piece of nature. Through their membership, they help preserve these places and support their evolution. Depending on the resources available, the estates can evolve over the years.
- A hedge can be planted.
- A pond restored.
- An old orchard saved.
- A meadow enriched with flowers that support pollinating insects.
When the organisation’s resources allow, this work is entrusted to people whose profession or passion it is: gardeners, arborists, biodiversity specialists… Then nature continues the work itself. Flowers can gradually reappear. Insects can return. Birds can find more food again. The trees grow. The seasons resume their rhythm. The places change, gently.
I deeply believe that our role is not to control nature. It is simply to give nature back the means to express its full potential.
Is this when the idea of an edible forest emerges?
Yes. At that time, encouraged by a friend, I dream of a large edible forest. A place where fruit trees, shrubs, flowers and plants would live together, for the benefit of pollinating insects and human beings alike.
I meet specialists. I learn a great deal. Then reality sets in: the climate, the soils, the technical constraints, the costs. I realise that the idea should not be abandoned. We simply have to accept that it must evolve.
The project has never stopped changing.
Never its spirit.
Only the way it moves forward.
The estates enter the story
How did the estates become part of the story?
I wanted it to be a mutually beneficial relationship. We were helping nature thrive in La Roche-Posay. I hoped that, in return, nature would offer something precious.
The first place I truly fall in love with is an old orchard. I am immediately captivated by it. I see more than apple trees there. I see harvests shared together. Children discovering fruit trees. Families leaving with a few apples… and many memories.
I realise that a place can be beautiful because it is alive, but also because it is filled with moments of happiness.
“Your project is wonderful… but perhaps it needs a little more sense of escape.”
The comment makes me think. In 2020, an olive grove and an almond grove nestled in the mountains of Aragon naturally become part of the adventure. Without ever really setting out to do so, Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée becomes a European project.
Each estate now has its own identity: the orchard, the meadow, the olive trees, the almond trees. And, I hope, one day other places will come to write the next chapters of this story.
And the Scottish project?
It comes to an abrupt end following a change in management. I am deeply saddened. For a long time, I wondered why that story had to end this way. Today, I believe I understand: without that ending, I would probably never have developed Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée.
In French, “pépins” are not only the seeds found in fruit. The word also refers to the difficulties encountered along the way. I have encountered a few. Looking back, I owe them a great deal.
Because before every tree, there is a seed. And behind every lasting project, there are almost always a few obstacles that help it grow.
Why a non-profit organisation?
Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée had already existed for several years as part of my professional activity, which was centred on a different project. When that activity ends in 2023, Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée does not disappear.
At last, it can become what I had always hoped for: an independent non-profit organisation. So today, this is not the story of a beginning. It is the story of a rebirth.
Because I did not want to sell nature. I wanted to build a community. Each membership simply helps these places continue to thrive.
Depending on its resources, the organisation helps fund planting, estate restoration, the creation of new spaces that support biodiversity, and the work of professionals able to guide this evolution.
Members remain entirely free to choose how they take part. Some will simply come for a walk. Others will take part in a harvest. Others will prefer to follow news from the estates from home. All these ways of taking part are equally valuable. Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée is not built on compulsory volunteering. It is built on shared trust.
The project’s greatest wealth will never be its land.
It will be the women and men who have made this adventure possible.
Why now?
Because some ideas need time. For years, the land was already there. So were the plans. They were simply waiting for their season.
Today, retirement gives me something I had never had before: time. Not to begin a new life. But to finally bring to life the one I had been preparing for so long.
Deep down, I have never been attached to a particular form. I have always held fast to a conviction. As long as another path existed, I kept moving forward.
Is the project still a dream?
No. Today, I believe the first flowers are beginning to appear.
For a long time, this adventure lived in notebooks, files, maps, journeys, reflections… and a great deal of patience. Today, it is gradually unfolding in this new form.
The estates exist. The first apple and almond harvests have been shared with friends. We have walked the paths around them, discovered magnificent landscapes and imagined together what these places might become in a few years.
With every visit, I rediscover the same conviction: nature brings people together with remarkable simplicity.
The website, too, has evolved a great deal. It is no longer simply a presentation. It tells a story. It opens the door to a collective adventure.
Today, I am no longer moving forward with my ideas alone. Other people are gradually contributing to the project, to the website’s design and to thinking about its future. Some contribute their skills. Others, their time. Others simply their trust.
Seeing this community gradually come together is certainly one of the greatest rewards of all these years. This project was never imagined for one person alone. It was always intended to be passed on.
What is your dream?
That one day, throughout Europe, women and men will enable small havens of biodiversity to continue thriving.
- Orchards.
- Meadows.
- Ponds.
- Woodlands.
Places where insects can find flowers again. Where birds can find refuge. Where trees grow old peacefully. Where children discover that apples do not grow in supermarkets. Where adults rediscover the simple pleasure of slowing down.
Another, quieter hope remains. It all began in Scotland. One day, I would like Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée to return there—not to replicate an existing project, but to bring its own.
Perhaps, where local conditions are suitable, by helping wild bilberries, hazel, elder or other plants native to the Highlands to flourish. A way of giving Scotland back a small part of what it gave me.
I also dream that these estates will become places where people meet. Places people visit as much to share a picnic, a harvest or a walk as to admire the landscape. Places where strangers sometimes leave as friends.
Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée may not change the world. But if, together, we can revive a few hectares of biodiversity… if a few children discover the taste of an apple picked straight from the tree… if a few families create wonderful memories… if a few people regain a little serenity from knowing that a small corner of nature continues to thrive…
Then this entire journey will have had meaning.
And in twenty years?
I would like Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée to continue without me. At the beginning of this story, I dreamed of representing a project born elsewhere. Today, my greatest wish would be that, one day, others will want to represent this one.
That they bring their ideas to it. Their energy. Their sensitivity. And that they continue to develop it without ever losing its spirit.
Perhaps, deep down, that is what passing something on truly means.
Creating something that will outlive us.
A few words to finish
Welcome to Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée
I am not seeking to create something grand. I simply want to create something that lasts.
If you have read this far, perhaps this story resonates with your own. Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée is not simply looking for members. It is looking for women and men who still believe that, when we care for nature, in time it always gives us back more than we offered it.
You do not need to be a gardener. You do not need any specialist knowledge. Sometimes, all it takes is the desire to help a place continue to thrive.
If this idea speaks to you, then you already share something of the spirit of Les Chevaliers de l’Astrée. Welcome to this adventure.