La Minoterie hosts company seminars, board meetings, training days, weddings and family gatherings for up to 120 guests, with 12 bedrooms and about 25 beds on site. The venue is a former flour mill of 1,000 square meters, set by the water in the center of Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon, in the Deux-Sèvres, between Niort and La Rochelle. It is rented as a whole, for a day, an evening, a weekend or a full week, all year round.
Seminars and company events
The owners sell meeting room hire, full-site hire and all-inclusive packages for seminars, management committees and training sessions. Three rooms can host a plenary session or smaller working groups, and the lounges add space for break-out work. The meeting rooms have a large screen, a video projector, a flipchart and a coffee machine, and the two main rooms are air-conditioned.
For team building, the venue lists around 30 workshops and activities, on site or with local partners. Examples include a pastry workshop, wine and beer tastings, an escape game, a murder party, mixology, boat trips, archery and paintball. A fleet of 16 bicycles is available to guests, and speakers can be booked for conferences.
Weddings and receptions
La Minoterie sells weddings, birthdays and family reunions, indoors or in the gardens, with a dedicated wedding package. The large reception hall seats up to 110 guests, and the third-floor Dancing turns into a party room at night, with disco lighting, a mirror ball and a bar. The waterside garden covers 600 square meters and can host outdoor events facing the mill.
Rooms and capacities
The large reception and seminar hall is the former storage barn, now 165 square meters, with seating for up to 110 and a beer tap. L'Orangerie, in the old machine room, covers 51 square meters and seats up to 40, with a kitchen corner and a refrigerator. Le Dancing, on the third floor, is a 200-square-meter gallery of contemporary paintings with 30 seats, used for meetings by day and parties at night. The site also has a games room, a gym, a lounge called the Salle des masques, a cabinet of curiosities and a slide.
Outside, the main garden of 600 square meters seats 40 for lunch or dinner. A bamboo garden holds a spa, and an 11-meter swimming pool sits in the main garden.
Accommodation
The main building has 7 bedrooms, including 2 suites, for 15 people. The annex has 5 more bedrooms for 10 people, each with its own bathroom and toilet. Bedrooms measure 20 to 30 square meters, and one on the ground floor is accessible to wheelchair users. Partner gîtes nearby can raise the total to 40 or 50 beds, and lodgings in the village can take it to about 100. The accommodation building is not fully accessible.
Catering
Meals are cooked on site by an in-house cook in a professional kitchen with a range and a steam oven, and served at the table under a full-board formula. Groups can also cook for themselves. The table d'hôte uses local produce processed on site.
History and setting
The mill dates back to the 13th century. Christophe and Clément renovated it between 2020 and 2024 and furnished it with antiques, design pieces and contemporary art. It was the first group gîte in Poitou-Charentes to receive a sustainable tourism label, and it worked with ADEME on its approach: local materials, rainwater collection, electric car charging, an electric cargo bike and a compost.
Getting there
Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon TER station is a five-minute walk away. Surgères TGV station is about 10 minutes by car. Niort is 15 minutes away and La Rochelle 20 minutes, with motorway exits at Niort or Saint-Jean-d'Angély.
