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Gruissan-The free republic of the chalets owners
80 families live throughout the year in the famous chalets of Gruissan beach. A life which reflects a love of the cabin way of life and a desire to safeguard a heritage. Moreover, the chalet dwellers find that they commune with the elements and benefit from an unusual community life in these atypical constructions. Two families have agreed to talk about their happy way of life.
Let’s first of all set the scene: 1,300 wooden pile chalets are lined up on the beach facing the sea. The majority of them are only lived in during the summer or six months of the year. But 80 families, who love the area, live throughout the year on this film set, which was immortalised by the film of Jean-Jacques Beinex "37,2° le Matin" (starring Béatrice Dalle and Jean-Hugues Anglade).
The Estrade family bought a chalet in 1996. Christine remembers, "It was love at first sight. The place looks like a ghost town from the Far West in the winter with the Tramontane blowing, like Florida in the off season – with the young and handsome surfers or the 800 windsurfers who decorate the beach with their multicoloured sails for the Wind challenge – like the "paid holidays of 1936" in the middle of summer with the never ending stream of tourists and their families, the games of pétanque (similar to the game of bowls) and the barbecues. Basically there is a different atmosphere for each season".
Anne Votovic is just as ecstatic. She bought her chalet at the beginning of the 1990s with her partner. She lives there now with her two children. "We didn’t hesitate a second to live in this region. It is somewhat isolated but there is a lot of solidarity and camaraderie. We do exactly as we please. We are not influenced by those living elsewhere and it is so beautiful! Everybody knows that the light is exceptional as are the waves, the natural setting and the view…" The fact that there is no fencing provides a feeling of freedom and of wide open areas which are accentuated by the wind which blows continually.
The Estrade family’s chalet is a house. There are two floors covering 100 sq. m.: three bedrooms and a living room for two adults and two children. Although they love wood, and with the exception of the terrace and the inside, the family has used PVC to protect themselves from the sea wind which is full of salt spray. But the view from the window is as important as the house itself.
In the foreground we can see beach-volley fields, the low wall of the promenade, the beach, a small first-aid post which has also been built on piles and finally the sea, the cardinal buoy and the horizon, says Christine Estrade, from time to time there are kites, often gulls, curlews or terns, and quite frequently small fishing boats or at the weekend yachts which are taking part in a race. And we leave to go to work in the winter, there are pink flamingos on the lake."
Yet, the "chaletains" (chalet owners) as Anne Votovic says, have to comply with the initial specifications: a large terrace, no accommodation directly on the sand and a garage using crosspieces (Ed: this has not always been complied with – see the photos…). A life which is free but where camaraderie exists; a life where everybody supports each other like in a village. This is a much-sought after treasure in today’s society. I could go on talking for hours but if a place should be preserved, where such values continue to exist, it is indeed here… From the point of view of the family, friendship and living in a family, we have created quite a rare tribe….
“CABANES” STORY
As described by Claude Gagedet in his beautiful book about GRUISSAN, the story of the chalets dates back to 1869, when an inhabitant of the town asked the Prefect for permission to build beach cabins for the crowds of bathers inspired by the fashion for sea bathing begun by Empress Eugénie.
Those inhabitants of the region who had horses brought provisions down to the beach, as well as tarpaulins for shelter from the sun. Other facilities and a number of plank cabins were soon built, only to be destroyed by a violent storm in 1899. The construction of rudimentary structures was made possible by the building of embankments along the straits before the First World War.
The Café Fabre, built in 1925, symbolised the fashion for these popular cabins. The people of Narbonne would take shuttle buses to the area en masse, there to pass their Sundays, despite the lack of water and the clouds of mosquitoes.
Paid holidays, instigated in 1936, were of little benefit to the station. The German occupation needed the area for artillery and bunkers. After the war, everything was destroyed, the camping area was re-established and, little by little, the cabins were reconstructed on their pilings.
