At the beginning in 1828
The old ironworks
Within the campsite, you will be able to see a blast furnace, almost 30 m high, a vestige of the steelmaking past of the place, formerly called "Les Forges d'Ardy". Established in 1828, this furnace operated with three refinery fires, a reverberatory furnace and four foundry cylinders. The activity ceased definitively in 1890.
This blast furnace still shows its mouthpieces and the scrap used for its consolidation. You will see the remains of the loading ramp that allowed you to pour into the mouth of the blast furnace: coal, ore and fluxes.
The three elements necessary for production were found locally: ore (in the form of garluche), charcoal (from Landes pine) and water to produce hydraulic energy (rivers converted into reservoirs). The campsite pond is indeed a reservoir with its waterfall which makes it a unique place. The alleys of century-old plane trees, located near the pond, bordered the old road which served the foundries (Ardy and Abbess sites).
Looking down, you will see stones of different sizes and blue, green or black colors, like precious stones. It is in fact slag, produced from the melting of the ore from which the iron was extracted, it was then used to backfill the aisles.
Higher up, while having a drink at the bar in the evening, you will discover the blast furnace differently thanks to its illuminations!