Luxury nesting boxes

The architectural heritage is one of the many riches of Gascony.  Among the chateaux, the houses, the fortified towns and the religious edifices, the many dovecots of all shapes and sizes are also a wonderful reason to come and travel around the Armagnac countryside.

On the curves of the valleys, on the edge of the vineyards and fields, these little buildings like watchtowers, mark Gascony. On arcane or on pillars, with stone or brick walls, with roofs in simple or double conical, sloped or domed, the dovecotes impress with their diversity.

All however have a skylight or ‘ear ridge’ placed at the top of the structure.  Simple decoration or welcome suggestion for feathered tenants, the ‘ear ridges’ often representing a pigeon with spread wings.

If homing pigeons once played the role of postman, the pigeons of Gascony were there to provide meat and above all, natural fertiliser through their droppings.  The Gascon pigeons were raised up on archesor pillars in order to protect them from predators and to easily retrieve the dung that was used to fertilise the vineyards.

Excursions in the hollows and valleys

Present since Greek and Egyptian antiquity around the Mediterranean, dovecots appeared in Western Europe from the 9th century.  Privileges of Lords until the French Revolution in 1789, their construction greatly increased in the 19th century.

The oldest dating back to the Middle Ages, the dovecots offer a trace of the past.  They all tell an original story, perfect reasons for excursions through the green valleys of Armagnac.

Even if today, the reputation of invading guest sticks to their feathers, the pigeon can boast to being the only animal for which man has built such noble and solid shelters.

Come and discover the treasures of Gascony thanks to Escapades en Armagnac! [1]