France Day Seven - le Moulin a Papier

Today, we took a short drive to visit le Moulin a papier de Brousses, a paper mill. On the way, we passed by more vineyards, and enjoyed the peaceful countryside.

In 1674, this area had many textile and paper mills.  The textile mills are now long gone, and le Moulin a Papier is the last remaining paper mill.  We were given a private tour by Celine, who is the seventh generation person in her family to operate the mill.  She explained to us that the textile mills originally needed paper in which to wrap their fabrics, and this was why their mill was started.  The mill operated until 1981 when Celine's grandfather retired due to the lack of demand for handmade paper.  Industrialized papermaking was, unfortunately, too much competition.  A cooperative, the Brousses Paper Mill  Association, was formed to restore the paper mill and bought it into working order in 1994.  Its goals are to preserve the making of handmade paper, and to educate the public with tours and workshops.

 

 

 

 The mill has a very good gallery, where they sells cards and other artwork made from their paper.

 We had the honor of meeting Celine's grandfather.

 And then Celine actually showed us how paper is made.

 

 

 Afterwards, we took a look at some of the art on display.

The entire tour was fascinating, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is in the area.