Moulin des Ludes hosts residential seminars and team retreats for groups of 6 to 20 people, with up to 22 beds in the main house, and the estate is reserved for one group at a time. It is a former 17th-century water mill set on 8 hectares of forest, meadows, islands and river, with no neighbours in sight. The mill stands at Marçay, in the Vienne, about 20 minutes by road from Poitiers.
Seminars and company events
The mill is built for small groups: leadership teams, small companies, agencies, collectives, associations and training organisations. The base offer covers up to 15 people, and the group can grow to 22 for a supplement. Only one team is on site at a time, with no neighbouring room and no other group to meet. Part of the owners' team lives on the estate in a separate house, out of the way.
Work equipment includes fibre internet and Wi-Fi, a video projector, a screen and whiteboards. Large shared rooms suit plenary sessions, smaller corners and rooms suit breakout groups or calls, and each bedroom has a desk. The mill also takes teams for a single day from 9 am to 5 pm, with work spaces, projector, coffee and tea, lunch and access to the grounds, subject to the calendar of residential stays.
Free time is part of the programme: natural pool, rowing boat, forest walks, pétanque, Mölkky, board games and karaoke, plus running and yoga. The team can arrange cooperation games, cooking or wine tasting, mosaic workshops and mushroom walks with local craftspeople, and can bring in a massage therapist, a yoga teacher, a chef or a speaker.
Weddings and receptions
The mill occasionally takes on private projects such as an intimate wedding, a special birthday, a film shoot or an artist residency. Each request is studied case by case, so describe your project before planning around the venue.
Rooms and capacities
The estate does not have a conventional meeting room. Work happens in the large living rooms and around big tables in the main house, in semi-buried rooms that stay at 24 to 27°C in summer, and outdoors on the terraces. The ground floor is accessible to wheelchair users, except the dormitory.
Accommodation
The main house sleeps 22 all year: four bedrooms with private bathrooms for 15 people and two dormitories with private bathroom and separate toilet for 7. Linen and soap are supplied. In season, extra beds are offered in a Safari Lodge tent for 7 on an island, a caravan for 2 and, when available, a small independent house for 2 to 4. Guest houses nearby can take extra participants.
Catering
For residential groups, breakfast is self-service with groceries already bought. Lunch is a buffet prepared with local, seasonal produce, served indoors or outside. In the evening the kitchen is yours, with ingredients and recipes supplied for cooking together, or service can be provided. Vegetarian meals, allergies and intolerances are handled when announced in advance. A goat farm and an organic market gardener next door supply produce.
History and setting
For several centuries the mill ground wheat for the farmers of Marçay using the force of the river, and the commune lists it among its historic mills. The grounds combine forest, meadows, islands and centuries-old trees, with hammocks, terraces, aromatic herbs by the kitchen and art works along the paths.
Getting there
From Paris Montparnasse, the TGV reaches Poitiers in about 1 h 20, then the mill is about 20 minutes by road; the team can organise a transfer from the station. Vivonne, with shops and a Saturday market, is 7 minutes away by car. The Futuroscope is about 25 minutes away.
