The founders of Tsar Voyages, Elena and Benoit Lardy, have realised their long-held dream by creating a cozy holiday destination - the Lardy House with glamping and panoramic houses.
As Mrs. Lardy (pictured right) told RATA-news, the idea originated in March 2020, at the very beginning of the pandemic. They bought a plot of land in the village of Lomy near Rostov the Great and applied to Rostourism for a grant to organise the glamping. While waiting for the grant, they managed to renovate an old izba with old plat bands and made an extension to it.
"Now we feed our guests in the Izba and hold workshops there. The design is Russian, but with a French accent, and it was developed by Catherine Bagnalasta, who has a very interesting view on combining different styles," explained Elena Lardy. - It is our first experience of this kind, but it makes sense: we love hosting guests. And we really want to show foreign tourists and our friends how much we love Russia.
Having received a grant, we set up a glamping site with five summer tents, and the season will open in April.
Before that, a modern panoramic house was built, with windows overlooking the picturesque village and meadows, a small outbuilding with three bedrooms.
The project was launched in January. The homestead can now accommodate 12-14 people; once the glamping facility opens, full occupancy will be no more than 25 people. "We are not planning any further expansion, it's a chamber story. We already have guests coming to us, as a rule our regular customers are Russians and the French," Mrs. Lardy said.
“For two years we have developed different itineraries - walking tours to the Leontievs' estate in the village of Voronino, five kilometers away, to neighboring villages and to Rostov the Great.
While the construction was going on, they trained the team and taught them how to receive guests. The farmstead is staffed by people from nearby villages and uses local products and recipes from the local cuisine in preparing meals. Nearby is the Filimonov Razdolie dairy factory, overseen by the famous French cheesemaker Patrice Norman. It's a friend of ours, we treat guests to his raclette and gruyere. Our excellent chef gives master classes on making pickles, e.g. he teaches us how to pickle mushrooms using a special recipe. We always have a tea party with Sugreff tea, they are our good partners.
There is also an interesting workshop on making Merjan charming dolls, these are also local traditions, the Merjans used to live in these territories," says Elena Lardy.
Among the Lardy couple's friends are many artists and painters, who willingly donate their paintings for the interior of the houses. For painting enthusiasts, plein airs can be organised with Rostov painters. "We have an antique piano in our Izba, we are looking for a restorer, we will arrange concerts. Otherwise, we have traditional village entertainment: we have arranged a glade for shashliks (barbecue), guests enjoy sawing firewood and going down the slide. The place we have chosen is very good, Rostov is a dynamically developing city of the Golden Ring. Investors are coming to the Rostov land now, new cafes and restaurants will soon appear in the city center, the embankment will be renovated. It will be interesting to stay in this region for a few days," remarked Elena Lardy.
According to her, demand is actively forming, there are requests from individuals and small groups. February is well booked, there are orders for March, recently we opened sales for May holidays. Staying at weekends and public holidays is slightly more expensive than on weekdays.
For a large company or a firm, you can book the whole homestead and hold themed events. You can also come to the farmstead without an overnight stay - for a dinner, a walk, a campfire or a master class.
The owners of Dom Lardy plan to get other tour operators involved in sales. "We hope that by May colleagues will come to visit us, we want to show them the houses and the territory, to interest them in cooperation. In the summer we expect full occupancy, including from the inbound market," Mrs. Lardy stressed.
RATA News article, the original can be read on the website.
