Les Landes Vivantes

The Japanese camellia, acclimatized in Nantes in the mid-19th century by Ferdinand Favre, former mayor of Nantes, has, in almost two hundred years, become a common plant in Brittany, almost emblematic of the mildness of the surrounding area. Its cousin, the Chinese camellia, from which tea is made, has also taken root and become a typical plant and crop of this region.

Moist, verdant hedged farmland, acidic sandy-loam soils, regular rainfall, oceanic influence - these words resonate sweetly in the ears of the future tea growers of the region, who now settle by the dozens on the Celtic peninsula. Producing tea in the north-west of France is not just about discovering and promoting a new terroir, it's also about the promise of quality, local, artisanal tea, with less environmental impact and more transparent traceability. Les Landes Vivantes seeks to limit the use of fossil fuels. There is a tractor on the farm, but it's a 15 hp micro tractor, used for barely a hundred hours a year. Almost all mulch is organic.

For all those who want to get their hands back in the soil, Les Landes Vivantes offers to teach the rudiments of organic gardening, as well as discovering tea and its cultivation.