Living the Landes without wearing them out
The house sits between three fragile environments, pressed up against one another: the ocean, the dune and the forest. In July and August they take ten times more visitors than in winter. Here is what we do, and what we ask of you.
Where you are setting down your bags
The ocean
A beach open to the Atlantic, rip currents that move day by day, and a strandline — seaweed, driftwood — that is not litter: it is a habitat.
The dune
The only barrier between the ocean and the village. It holds together on marram grass roots alone. On the sandy Aquitaine coast, the shoreline retreats by one to three metres a year depending on the sector.
The forest and the courant
The largest planted forest in western Europe, sown in the nineteenth century to fix the sands. Just next door, the Courant d’Huchet has been a national nature reserve since 1981.
The essentials in sixty seconds
Short showers
Five minutes is plenty. The tap water comes from the aquifer, right under the villa.
Windows closed
Heating on means everything shut. Otherwise you are heating the garden.
Sort your waste, even on holiday
Yellow bin, glass separately, food waste to the compost. The instructions are in the kitchen.
Stay on the paths
Crossing the dune away from the boardwalks destroys it, step by step.
Cycle to the beach
Cycle paths everywhere, no parking space to find, no fuel burnt.
The seven habits
01
The water you drink sleeps under the house
The sand of the Landes filters rainwater and stores it in an underground aquifer. That is where the tap water comes from, and it also feeds the wetlands of the Courant d’Huchet. In summer, when consumption doubles, the département regularly issues water restriction orders.
- Five-minute showers, and turn the water off while you shampoo.
- Washing machine and dishwasher: eco programme, never half empty.
- Rinse the sand off at the outdoor shower, not in the bath.
- A dripping tap wastes tens of litres a day: let us know.
≈ 60 L
a five-minute shower
≈ 180 L
a bath
÷ 2
full dishwasher vs. washing up by hand
02
Comfort without the waste
The local habit: close the shutters and curtains on the sunny side first thing in the morning, then throw everything open in the cool of the evening and early morning. The house stays cool almost without electricity — that is how it was done before air conditioning.
- 19 °C in winter: the temperatures recommended by the French energy agency.
- Try the fan first: ten to twenty times less hungry than air conditioning.
- Last one out turns the lights off: bedrooms, terrace, shower room.
- Unplug standby loads — router, consoles, chargers: up to 10 % of the bill.
7 %
less electricity for every degree gained
100 %
of the lighting is LED
Rating B
energy performance
03
Sorting waste here, how it works
A badly sorted bin goes to the incinerator in its entirety. Three seconds of attention saves the lot. The instructions are posted above the bins in the kitchen.
- Yellow bin: plastic, metal, cardboard, cartons, paper — loose, never stuffed inside one another.
- Glass bank: bottles and jars, without lids or corks.
- Garden compost bin: peelings, leftovers, coffee grounds, eggshells.
- The MACS recycling centre, free of charge, for bulky waste, batteries and oils.
04
Whatever falls on the sand ends up in the water
The beach has no invisible bin: the wind and the tide carry everything out to the ocean within hours. The strandline, on the other hand, feeds the sandhoppers, which feed the birds, and it holds the sand in place. Take the plastic out, leave the rest.
- A refillable bottle rather than packs of water: the tap water is drinkable and good.
- A pocket ashtray — the sand is not one.
- Reusable boxes for the picnic, no cling film.
- Mineral sunscreen, free of oxybenzone and octinoxate, applied twenty minutes before swimming.
500 L
of water polluted by a single cigarette butt
400 years
for a plastic bottle to disappear at sea
3
pieces of litter picked up per person per day
05
The dune and the forest: two simple rules
Use the built accesses and the boardwalks, stay on the marked tracks, keep the dog on a lead — the dune ridge shelters birds that nest directly on the sand. Every shortcut off the paths opens a corridor for the wind to dig into.
- Do not pull up the marram grass or climb on the sand fences: they are what rebuilds the dune.
- Pick nothing in the reserve, take no sand, move no dead wood.
- Watch the birds and the turtles of the Courant d’Huchet from a distance.
- Drive and park only in the designated car parks.
06
Fire: the most serious subject on this page
In a pine forest, a fire that starts cannot be caught: in 2022 the fires in the Landes de Gascogne burnt tens of thousands of hectares. No cigarettes, no barbecues, no fires and no lanterns in the forest or on the dune. If you see smoke: call 18 or 112.
- Never a cigarette butt on the ground. Ashtrays on the terrace, a pocket ashtray for the beach.
- No fires, no lanterns, no improvised barbecues.
- Water the garden in the evening, never in full sun. No hosing down the terrace.
- Outside lights off when you come in: at night they disorient insects and bats.
07
Here, the car is the slowest option
Moliets and the neighbouring villages are linked by a network of forest cycle paths, sheltered from cars and from the heat. The beach, the village, the market, the golf course: all of it works by bike, with no parking space to hunt for in August. The Vélodyssée route crosses the area from north to south.
- Bakery, market, shops: most errands are done on foot.
- One car for eight: grouping trips cuts the mileage by half or more.
- Children arrive at the beach more awake than they would in the back of a car.
- Bikes, helmets and shopping baskets: see the welcome book.
On our side
Asking guests to change their habits only makes sense if the house is equipped to make it easy. Here is what is already in place, and what we are working on.
Already in place
- 100 % LED lighting and water-saving mixer taps at every outlet.
- Labelled recycling bins in the kitchen and a compost bin in the garden.
- Eco-labelled cleaning products and laundry detergent provided.
- Linen washed at low temperature, towels changed on request.
- Refillable bottles, shopping baskets and pocket ashtrays available.
- A sustainability booklet in the house and short reminders in every room.
→In progress
- Tracking water and electricity consumption between stays.
- A rainwater butt for watering and the outdoor shower.
- Better insulation and solar shading for the exposed rooms.
- Working towards environmental certification (Clef Verte / EU Ecolabel).
What it adds up to
Nothing heroic: only habits that cost neither comfort nor time. Added together over one week for eight people, this is the order of magnitude.
≈ 6,500 L
of water saved by choosing a short shower over a bath
≈ 30 %
of consumption avoided by setting the thermostat sensibly
≈ 170
pieces of litter taken off the beach if everyone picks up three a day
≈ 40 kg
of packaging and food waste kept out of the general bin
That the villa, the dune, the forest and the beach are in exactly the state you found them when you close the door behind you. A little better, if possible: three fewer pieces of litter on the sand is something you can see.
Book L'Atlantide
The house is let by the week in high season, and by the weekend for the rest of the year. Book through whichever platform you prefer, or write to us directly.