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Ségriès

In 1864, Bishop Jordany, then bishop of Fréjus, donated his family property near Moustiers-Ste-Marie to the Cistercians of Sénanque. Ten years earlier, Dom Marie Bernard Barnouin had acquired the former abbey of Sénanque to reinstate a monastic community there, the Congregation of Cistercians of the Immaculate Conception. The project inspires a vocation in many, leading to the creation of other abbeys. In Fontfroide, then in Hautecombe and finally in Notre-Dame-des-Anges de Ségriès where a small community of monks settled and began construction work.

In 1891, the monastery closed after 27 years of occupation. From 1898 to 1921, Ségriès welcomed the nuns of the Assumption, then was bought by the diocese of Fréjus and Toulon, which received seminarians and summer camps there. In 1952, the agricultural estate was sold to the company Chiris, a perfumer in Grasse. From 1962, several owners followed one another, with various real estate projects, until Ségriès fell into neglect in the 1980s.

A new page opened in 1995, when Dhruv and Annemarie Bhandari acquired the monastery at an auction. They began the restoration work. Today, the common areas, the cloister and nearly 30 rooms have been restored, as has the chapel which houses stained glass windows by master glassmaker Guilbert d'Anelle.

Recently Ilikaa, Noé and Laura joined the family adventure by infusing it with new projects. They built a vegetable garden-orchard, according to the principles of regenerative agriculture, thus linking up with the Cistercian tradition which gives particular importance to gardens, food autonomy and technical innovation.

Today, the cuisine of Ségriès delights its guests with produce grown on its grounds.

Throughout the year, the Bhandari family welcomes many groups. The chapel, the cloister and the gardens are all places where concerts, workshops, residencies, and events centered on food and biodiversity take place.