Restaurant
The Vosges massif has many farm inns. The opportunity to meet these men and women who leave the comfort of their beautiful farms in the valley to spend the summer in the summer pasture on the stubble. Some families live there all year round, like the Strejcs.
Latest edition : 26 April 2020
Happiness is on the stubble. At least if we are to believe the farmer-innkeepers who have just reached the heights of the Vosges for the summer. Hikers and other gourmands awaited this moment impatiently.
Because it is in the farm inns that you can taste the famous (and gargantuan) menu marcaire, good Alsatian dishes simmered from farm products, all in a sometimes rustic but always authentic setting.
The family of Peter and Rosa Strejc settled on the heights of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines. At the beginning of the 90s, the couple left Baden-Württemberg to realize their dream: owning a farm in the mountains. With its profusion of geraniums, their dapper chalet is also reminiscent of buildings across the Rhine. What was not won in advance when you look at the photos of the site during the purchase! But with a lot of enthusiasm and elbow grease, they transformed the ruined farmhouse into a dapper chalet.
The view from the courtyard over the valley and the peaks of Haycot and Bézouard is magnificent. In the meadows, a good forty cows from the Vosges take advantage of the soft grass. At Chalet Pierre, we do not make cheese: the milk is reserved for the calves. A small herd of Boer goats help maintain the landscape, happily grazing on anything the cows don't like.
Breeding and meat processing in the farm's cutting workshop are the business of Peter and his son Stefan, helped by Kadir-Pierre and Mikaël, grandsons of Peter and Rosa. The latter (perhaps because she is the only one in the family not fluent in French?) likes to hide in the kitchen where she prepares tasty dishes using meat from the family farm: roasts and minced beef, pork and veal, ham in a crust, pies, peasant platters, poultry, rabbits...
A whole assortment of charcuterie and sausages is also available for take-out. His daughter Bettina, who provides reception and service, makes delicious fruit tarts and peasant bread.
Farm-Inn Chalet Pierre
10 locality Côte-d'Echery
68160 Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines.
Open every day by reservation from March 1 to November 15, for lunch and dinner.
Phone. 03 89 58 55 26
Where
http://chalet-pierre.wifeo.com
from Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, take the direction of the pass of the
same name, direction Saint-Dié. After 700 meters, turn
left and follow the signs for about 4.5 km.
The Association des Fermes-Auberges du Haut-Rhin has just republished its guide for Haute-Alsace. The book is also published in German.
In the 19th century, Alsatian peasants drove their herds to the pastures of the Vosges mountains. For several months they lived in rustic farmhouses which also served as a refuge for loggers and mountain workers. Today, they are essential places for agrotourism in the region.
Everything a hiker needs to know about farm inns before embarking on a discovery of the Vosges reliefs is contained in this hundred-page guide. Ursula Laurent, co-author of the book, lists more than forty Haut-Rhin establishments, classified by valley.
Each is the subject of a presentation on a double page: contact details, opening period, reception capacity, terms of access to the farm-inn..., all the practical information can be found there. Thanks to a series of pictograms, the reader discovers in the blink of an eye if the hostel has a terrace, or if pets are allowed by the owner of the premises.
By painting, in an original and unexpected way, the portrait of each family of farmer-innkeepers, the guide also invites each aspiring traveler to put on their walking shoes to meet them. The book, published in French, is also translated into German.
The Fermes-Auberges de Haute-Alsace guide, published by ID Édition (“Guide Images et Découvertes” collection), is sold for €9.
It is available in particular in bookstores, supermarkets and tourist offices, or by correspondence (at the headquarters of the Association des fermes-auberges du Haut-Rhin, BP 60337, Colmar cedex 68006, with 4 € postage in addition ).