An integral part of France’s heritage, they are easy to identify. Burons are small stone dwellings built at high altitude, far from the towns and villages. It was in the solitude of the great outdoors that our farmers would spend around six months of the year, during the summer months, in the company of their herds. Milking cows, making cheese, giving birth to calves... the gruelling days passed in comfort that can be described as... Rustic !
Buron huts can be seen in uninhabited areas that are sometimes inaccessible in winter. This is where the herds go up to the mountain pastures and graze in the summer months.
Buron huts were built on barren land, often a long way from the villages, which at the time, made it impossible to go back and forth every day.
The buron hut was both a place of work and a home for farmers during the summer months.
Buron in Cantal
There are hardly any working buron huts left in our department. Today, many of them have been converted into gîtes, ski lodges or mountain restaurants. Some of them have been rebuilt to illustrate the life of the buronniers and to perpetuate this ancestral French heritage. This is the case in Laveissière at the Maison du Buronnier, where Philippe takes visitors on a journey back in time to a life lived in an exceptional setting.
An association to protect the burons also exists to ensure that this mountain heritage is preserved.
The Maison du Buronnier in Laveissière
You can now visit, sleep and/or eat in a buron hut! A number of burons have been restored, giving you the chance to enjoy this experience in the heart of the Cantal Volcano. A second lease of life for these traditional buildings, an authentic interlude for lovers of nature and traditional stonework.
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