Our holiday cottages are in Ruffié. A unique spot in the commune of Foix, on the road leading to the Barguillère Valley, right on the edge of the Ariège Pyrenees Regional Nature Park, along the River Arget. It is a large private estate, surrounded by a one-hectare wooded park and a meadow where cows graze in season, bordered by a small stream at the far end of the park. You’ll reach it by turning left off the D17, crossing a small bridge (over the Arget) and passing through a white gate.
We are just 3 kilometres from the town centre, at an altitude of 420 metres, in a completely safe and peaceful location. You’ll hear birdsong… and the clucking of hens and the crowing of the neighbouring cockerel. You can park your car safely right outside the gîtes. In summer, even during the hottest parts of the day, the nights are pleasant and bring a welcome, restful coolness.
The Arget and Barguillère gîtes are located within our large house but are completely self-contained, with separate entrances. Despite its appearance, the house is modern and well-insulated. The ecolodge is situated at the far end of the grounds and is completely self-contained. We offer a warm, family-style welcome. Upon your arrival, we’ll help you settle in and show you around.
We are at your disposal for any information regarding the self-catering accommodation, local outings, places to visit, local food producers to discover and events to attend, whilst respecting your privacy.
BONUS: During the opening season (July and August), we offer you complimentary access to the family swimming pool, subject to the specific rules in place. We provide sun loungers on the lawn for every guest staying in our gîtes.
Wi-Fi in all our gîtes
The Ruffié Holiday Cottages
The Arget holiday cottage on the ground floor opens onto a covered terrace, set in front of a bed of hydrangeas. Outdoor table and barbecue.
The larger Barguillère holiday cottage, with its exposed timber beams, occupies the entire first floor and offers a superb view of the grounds. For guests staying here, we set up a marquee in our grounds, complete with garden furniture and a barbecue, for al fresco dining when the weather permits.
Our new eco-lodge for 2021 is an eco-friendly timber building with a layout reminiscent of a yurt and a structure similar to that of a mountain chalet. A cosy retreat in the heart of nature.
The Cottage: our latest project, completed in 2023, an eco-friendly timber-frame build featuring cosy interiors and a large terrace.
From ironworks to green tourism
The holiday cottages are located at the “Domaine de Ruffie”. It is a site with a long history.
A few years ago, it was a curious, elongated spot, nestled between three streams: the Arget, the Becq and the Malet. This unusual shape had one major advantage: water! In other words, energy.
Catalan-style forges…
In the 19th century, a certain Mr Ruffié (the man after whom the site is named) was spot on. He separated the site from that of ‘La Baronnie’, a large farm still in operation today, and set up Catalan-style forges there. How did it work? Water channelled through a network of canals turned large wheels that powered ‘hammer mills’. The blacksmiths would then shape pieces of metal—sometimes very large ones—by working the iron, heated to red-hot in huge furnaces.
For many decades, all the agricultural implements used in our countryside were manufactured in this type of forge. Those in Ruffié were no exception to the rule, and were particularly active during the Napoleonic campaigns, as they supplied the bayonets for the Grande Armée. A few years later, it was in Ruffié that the shovels for the trenches of 1914 were made.
Like many other sites in the Barguillère valley, along the Arget river, Ruffié was an industrial site where many workers were employed.
A spinning mill
With the mechanisation of the countryside, the forges had less work. Ruffié then became a centre for spinning. A small hydroelectric power station, highly modern for the early 20th century, supplied energy to the factory and the residents. But once again, the spinning mills were forced to close, marking the start of an industrial transformation that would see the large textile factories of the Pays d’Olmes shut down one after another from the 1990s onwards.
Long since emptied of its inhabitants and industrial activity, the site lay derelict for several years. The old factory buildings weathered the passage of time as best they could. Brambles overran the streets and open spaces. One family fell
in love with the place immediately; they took it over in the early 1970s and gradually restored it. The oldest factory buildings were demolished, but everything that could be saved was preserved.
A power station
A new power station is being built, and Ruffié is reconnecting somewhat with its industrial past… by focusing on renewable energy, though that wasn’t what it was called back then!
The new owners have even transformed the site and its canals into a charming and picturesque trout fishing spot. The Ruffié fish farm delights young and old alike, who find a sense of freedom there. The fish farm is now closed.
Little by little, the industrial wastelands are being redeveloped, retaining the glass roofs characteristic of 19th-century factories. A sawtooth roof, designed to bring light into the heart of the factories.
A local newspaper
The buildings have been renovated (factories and houses) and are now home to several residents.
Ruffié is also the headquarters of one of the oldest newspapers in the Ariège: the weekly *La Gazette Ariégeoise*, founded in 1944.Our house was built on the higher ground of the site, on the site of the former vegetable gardens, in the 1980s. The few corner stones that adorn it and the large blocks of marble are remnants of the old factories. It is a house with unusual architecture and spaces.
Charming holiday cottages
Ruffié has been at the heart of industrial activity in the Ariège for the past two centuries. Today, the site is committed to sustainable, welcoming and high-quality tourism. It is here that we have created our holiday cottages. In this exceptional place that has retained its soul and whose architecture bears the traces of history.
When people come to stay with us, as they ‘turn down the little path on the left after the big bend’, they are initially taken aback and wonder where on earth they are going! And as soon as they arrive, they say, ‘But this is a little paradise here.’ No, it’s just Ruffié… welcome.
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