Ferme Agerria hosts company meetings, training days, executive committees and general assemblies for groups from 15 people, with a farm lunch and a guided tour of the herds on the same site. The meeting room sits in a renovated former granary on a working sheep and pig farm in Saint-Martin-d'Arberoue, in the Arberoue valley of the French Basque Country.
Seminars and company events
The farm sells business days built from three blocks: a meeting room, a lunch cooked from the farm's own products, and a visit of the farm. The formats it lists are company seminars, executive committees, general assemblies, training sessions and meetings. Each package is made to order, starts at 15 participants and is only available on reservation.
The meeting room is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It has an interactive screen and Wi-Fi, and the team sets it up in U shape, classroom or conference style on request. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, fruit juice, pastries, biscuits and seasonal fruit are served through the day as part of the room hire.
The guided tour works as a break between sessions or as a closing activity. Participants meet the Manech red-headed dairy ewes and the Basque pigs raised outdoors, watch a short film on how the Ossau-Iraty cheese is made and aged, and finish with a tasting of cheese, cured meats and Kintoa ham. Clubs, associations and school groups are also received, on separate programs.
Rooms and capacities
The farm names one meeting room, in the old granary, and a dining room for group lunches. It does not publish a maximum capacity for either. The minimum group size is 15 people for a meeting package and for the standing lunch, and 30 people for the seated farm lunch. Organizers with a large group should ask the family for exact seating limits before planning a plenary session.
Accommodation
There are no hotel rooms for seminar groups. The family rents one gîte of 104 square meters for up to 5 guests, rated 3 épis by Gîtes de France and 3 stars, with two bedrooms, a desk, Wi-Fi and a private enclosed garden of 200 square meters. It can house a speaker or a small management team the night before. Larger groups need to book hotels elsewhere in the valley. The farm also runs a motorhome area.
Catering
All food is cooked on site from the farm's production. The seated lunch offers a choice of starter, such as Basque pork charcuterie, ventrèche with piperade or garbure, then a main course such as pork coustous, confit sausages or duck confit, followed by ewe's cheese and Basque cake, with Irouléguy wine and coffee. A standing lunch of cold and hot savory bites, cheese with cherry jam and sweet bites is the lighter option. Service is timed around the meeting, and an aperitif with toasts made from farm products can be added.
History and setting
Four generations of the Pochelu family have farmed here. They first raised local dairy ewes, then cows and ducks, and about twenty years ago added Basque pigs raised in the open. Today Maitena runs the farm with Bernadette and Jean-Claude. The farm makes raw-milk Ossau-Iraty PDO cheese and ages Kintoa PDO ham for at least 20 months. It has opened its gates to the public for more than 20 years, and a shop on site sells its products with a view into the ageing cellar.
Getting there
The farm stands in Saint-Martin-d'Arberoue, postcode 64640, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the inland Basque Country. Groups arrive by car or coach.
