Step inside La Balaiterie, a living artisan workshop in the heart of Normandy, and discover the fascinating world of a rare French craft.
Your hosts, Marie-Laure and Arnaud, created La Balaiterie after choosing an entirely new path in life. During this approximately two-hour guided experience, they will share their story, their passion and their determination to bring an almost-forgotten craft back to life.
Discover how something as familiar as a broom can become the expression of genuine craftsmanship.
Explore the natural materials used in the workshop, from sorghum straw to other traditional fibres, and learn how each one is selected for its particular qualities and uses.
Follow the different stages involved in transforming these raw materials into colourful handmade brooms, brushes and unusual objects. Discover how sorghum straw is prepared, coloured and worked before it can become a finished piece.
Watch demonstrations of traditional broom-making techniques and see the remarkable old tools and machines that are still part of the workshop today. Some of these machines are extremely rare and offer a fascinating glimpse into a craft and working methods that have almost disappeared.
This is not a museum where everything sits behind glass. La Balaiterie is a working workshop where objects are still made by hand.
Touch the materials, observe the gestures, ask questions and understand the time, precision and skill hidden behind an everyday object we all think we know.
You may never look at a broom in quite the same way again.
Visitors are often surprised by the creativity, colours and beauty of the finished pieces. Some even describe La Balaiterie's brooms as works of art.
Above all, this is a human encounter. Marie-Laure and Arnaud love sharing their knowledge, stories and enthusiasm with visitors from France and around the world.
And just when you think the experience is over, another extraordinary world awaits you.
At the end of the visit, discover a remarkable collection created by Norman craftsman Gilbert Housset: handcrafted wooden vehicles and everyday objects, many reproduced at full scale.
After straw comes wood.
Two very different worlds, brought together by the same fascination for natural materials, skilled hands, patience, creativity and craftsmanship.
More than a workshop tour, La Balaiterie is an opportunity to meet the people keeping a rare craft alive and to discover an unexpected side of French craftsmanship in Normandy.
Tours are available in English and French.
