La Plaine St Andre raises public awareness on environmental conservation |20 April 2011

 
The restored Plantation House                                                                                                        Mr D'offay

The Plantation House, restored to an original design, incorporates a restaurant and bar, focuses areas of interior design to replicate the living space as owners and guests would have experienced at the time of its occupation, using antique furniture.

Speaking in the presence of several ministers, including Culture and Social Affairs Minister Bernard Shamlaye, Mr Nanty said it was timely that the inauguration takes place on World Heritage Day - January 18.
 
He said the new establishment is a harmonious combination of culture, tourism and development.

Mr Nanty also saluted the efforts of the young entrepreneurs who have given La Plaine St Andre a new breath of life. 

He said it has been conceived to raise public awareness on the need for environmental protection.

The estate of La Plaine St Andre was built around 1792 by Jean-Francois-Marie Jorre de Sainte Jorre, some 120 years after the first French settlers arrived and he named it after his own place of birth in Reunion island.

According to Richard D’Offay, one of the promoters, one of De Saint Jorre’s descendants, Maryse Eichler, had given valuable advice during the restoration of the Plantation House’s décor.

Today, the estate of La Plaine St Andre, though reduced in size from its heyday of 800 acres to about 4 acres, also boasts a herb and medicinal gardens, for both the interest of its guests as well as for use in its cuisine.

In the late 2007, Trois Freres Distillery won a tender to operate La Plaine St Andre from the Seychelles Heritage Foundation on the strength of its vision to transform a previously dilapidating site into a fully resorted and operating visitor attraction.
The estate is also the site of the Trois Freres distillery, which produces the Takamaka Bay rum and vodka.

The distillery processes some locally grown case, but also imports some raw products.
Besides retailing at many outlets, including hotels and restaurants, it is also being exported to several countries, notably Austria -- where it recently won a silver award -- Germany, Australia and Ireland.