In recent days a new stock of jam for our breakfast guests has been made: rhubarb-strawberry, peach crème de cassis, peach-apricot-raspberry and plum jam. For although our apartments feature fully equipped kitchens, one can choose to have breakfast with us.

We serve a full breakfast which includes delicious bread, croissants, our homemade jams, local cheeses, coffee, tea and juice. And each day we add something different to this; homemade muffins, banana-nut-bread or eggs with fresh orange juice.

From Thursday 23 July the Mont-Dore Retro Rockin’ Festival will take place. 4 days of Rock 'n Roll from the 50s, Rockabilly and Rock Swing.

But earlier this week there will also be some great concerts:
20 July - Concert Rock de la Nouvelle Orléans : Nolapster. La Taverne as op 9.30 pm.
21 July - Blues concert. Chez Mimi / Le Petit Paris as of 5.30 pm.
22 July - Free 60-ish and 7-ish rock concert: BBH. From 6 until 7 pm and as from 10 pm in the Bar du Soleil of the Casino
22 July - Concert: Amazone and meal: BBQ. Bar Le Panthéon. 7 pm.
22 July - Blues concert: Bad Mules. La Taverne as op 9.30 pm.
Free entrance for all concerts.

During the Mont-Dore Rétro Rockin'Festival (23 up to 26 July included) dance school Swinghome will give Lindy Hop dance lessons on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July. More information can be found on their website.

From June 13 until September 27 the 9th edition of Horizons - Rencontres "Arts Nature" takes place around the Sancy massif. The of itself already stunning landscape is during this period decorated by 10 art objects. Below a video of the inauguration:

More information on the Horizons website.

Together with Livia van Eijlle of Le Relais de Voissieres we organise self-guided walking holidays where flexibility is paramount. For example, one can choose from:

• the number of days
• the start date
• the daily distances
• rest days or no rest days – for which you yourself can choose the location. You yourself can decide what to do on this rest day: a stroll, lounge about or another activity
• with or without luggage transport

More information about these hiking holidays can be found on the Hiking in the Auvergne website.

As the video below shows the Auvergne is ideal for a holiday with children. Adventure parc, theme park Vulcania, walking (with donkeys), all in the beautiful volcanic landscape.

The Sancy massif offers many possibilities for rock climbers. Just outside of Le Mont-Dore rock climbing can be enjoyed at the Capucin. At 9 kms from Les Camélias there the roués of the La Roche Tuilière. And in the Vallée de Chaudefour you can live it up at the “Crète du Coq” and the fearsome “Dent de la Rancune”. More routes can be found at Lac Pavin (Besse), Châteauneuf/Saint Sauves, Le Rivalet and Grandeyrolles.

The video below gives a good idea of rock climbing in the Sancy Massif.

From June 13 until September 27 the 9th edition of Horizons - Rencontres "Arts Nature" takes place around the Sancy massif. The of itself already stunning landscape is during this period decorated by 10 art objects. Below a video of the inauguration of the 2014 edition:

More information on the Horizons website.

From Thursday 23 July up to Sunday 23 July, the 5th Mont-Dore Retro Rockin' festival will take place. For 4 days Le Mont-Dore will be in the devoted to Fifties rock 'n roll concerts which will be held in the open air and in the many bars and restaurants of Le Mont-Dore. We only have very limited availability left during this weekend.

More information can be found on the Facebook page of the festival.

For a foretaste we gladly refer you to the video below.

The video "Chaudefour" shows the mountain fauna and flora with images filmed only in the Réserve naturelle de la vallée de Chaudefour during 8 months of shooting the photographic project "Ch(eau)defour, l'eau de la vallée sous toutes ses formes" (Ch(eau)defour, water in de valley in all its forms).

This video did win the "prix du public" during the Filme ton Sancy 2015 festival.

Saturday 6 June and Tuesday 14 July the Sancy Mont-Dore 1000 will be organised. A new trail run event where during 2 climbs a total of 1000 meters of climbing will have to be overcome.

More information can be found on this website.

Een leuk fotoverslag van een bezoek aan verschillende kuuroorden in de Auvergne kan op de blog van Miss Lipgloss bekeken worden. Met onder andere een bezoek aan de thermale baden van La Bourboule en Le Mont-Dore.

As can been seen in the video below, also this year many young mouflons. Mouflons are the smallest wild sheep and the ancestor of our domestic sheep.

Although we are currently busy with bookings for spring, summer and autumn, the first bookings for Christmas and the 2016 February half term holiday have already been noted.

The week from February 13 up to February 20 2016 is especially very popular. 5 of our 6 apartments have already been booked and we have noted an option on the 6th apartment.

Climbing the Puy de Dôme individually is no longer possible. Because of the creation of a tourist train - the Panoramique des Dômes - the Puy de Dôme is closed to individual cyclists. However, special events for cyclists are being organised. Climbing the Puy de Dôme on a bicycle will be possible on 14 June 2015 between 7.30 am and 9.30 am during the La Montée de Puy de Dôme event. A maximum of 300 cyclists can participate in this event.

More information can be found on the FFCT website. On this page you also find a link to the Registration form.

If needed we can help you with the registration.

An overview of 33 walks around the theme of water in the Puy de Dôme department is available at this web page. For our guests we also have a booklet with these walks available.

There is also plenty to discover for motorcyclists in the vicinity of Les Camélias. The video below shows among other things the lake and the Col de Guéry, Saint-Nectaire, the Col de la Croix Saint Robert, the Puy Mary and Salers.

Les Camelias has a number of GPS motor routes available to you. The routes vary in length from 75 miles to 120 miles. There are also a large number of road books downloadable on this website.

Les Camelias has a locked garage where motorcycles, helmets and motor suitcases can be safely stored. Our tools can be used. And motorcyclists can of course also make use our free laundry service.

Les Camelias is a partner of the Murol castle and the Jonas caves. Our guest therefore pay the cheaper group rate instead of the individual rate.

More (French) information on the Château de Murol and more (French) information on the Grottes de Jonas.

The video below shows again what a great region for hiking the Auvergne is. The first part of the video is about the Livradois Forez area, the second part about the Puy de Dôme area. The Puy de Dôme is located only 35 kms from Le Mont-Dore.

If you also would like to walk over here we invite you to look at this page on our website.

For an original hiking roundtrip we invite you to visit our Hiking Auvergne website.

Up until our departure for France, Erwin was treasurer of the Vajra Foundation. We continue to support this foundation and have therefore decided to donate € 1,= of each Les Camélias invoice to this foundation. In 2014 we got to a total of no less than 275 invoices, and therefore we have recently donated € 275.

About the Vajra Foundation: The Vajra Foundation is an organisation which is contributing to the welfare of the poorest in Nepal through several projects. With the help of many volunteers, donors and sponsors the Vajra Foundation is able to build and finance hospitals, schools and water projects. The Vajra Foundation strives to have the projects run independently after their launch. The Vajra Foundation does not only offer real help, but also likes to contribute in the field of information provision about the problems in developing countries.

In search of guest soaps we recently discovered the soap maker La Savonnerie de la Goutte Noire. Located in Pont-de-David in the Livradois-Forez (between Clermont-Ferrand and Lyon) fantastic soap products are being made in a beautiful factory.

More photos of our visit to the soap maker can be found on the Les Camélias Facebook page.

We took the opportunity to explore some cols for a possible extension of our road bike tour.

Although the ski slopes will remain open until 6 April included, the Les Camélias website is ready for summer: summer activities are shown more at the top of the menu, the winter logo has been replaced by our summer logo and winter pictures have been replaced by more sunny ones. And the calendar has also been updated with many different activities.

This weekend sledge dog races will take place at the Salon du Capucin in Le Mont-Dore. The first race will start at midday on Saturday, the second race at 9.30 am on Sunday. More information on the website of the Office du Tourisme.

Les Camélias is a partner of the Grands Thermes de La Bourboule. Our guests benefit from a 20% discount on spa treatments at the Espace Bien-Etre. One can choose from a large number of packages. More (French) information can be found on the website of the Grands Thermes de La Bourboule.

Great images of the Via Ferrata du Capucin, located just outside of Le Mont-Dore and visible from the Les Camélias garden.