A friendly meeting place in the heart of the priority urbanisation zone in Blois

Benoît MORIN

Director of Escale et Habitat

Hostel for young workers, student residence, tourist centre, restaurant and conference centre

If I had only one word to say to France Active, it would be: continue! Please continue to support organisations like ours.

A friendly meeting place in the heart of the priority urbanisation zone in Blois

Blois (Loir et Cher)

Hostel for young workers, student residence, tourist centre, restaurant and conference centre

Historically a young workers’ hostel, Escale et Habitat is a social economy association located in the centre of the priority urbanisation zone in Blois. Today, the association has diversified its activities, it also welcomes students and groups of tourists (schoolchildren, sportsmen, families…) and individuals, who come to visit the châteaux of the Loire but not only…, and hires rooms out to companies and associations.

A collective catering service has also been developed and is open to everyone. This restaurant is all about encouraging intergenerational contact: a 96 year old lady rubs shoulders with the young residents. Mr Morin explains: “It’s really interesting is to see the discussions and bonds that form between our various audiences, both in the restaurant and at all the events we organise. ”. In recent months, Escale et Habitat has been welcoming deaf and hard-of-hearing people to its premises.

In the restaurant, “we buy from local producers wherever possible. Quality products help us in the fight against waste, because consumers don’t leave much on their plates anymore. We will soon be setting up a system for weighing waste every day and displaying the results in the canteen so that everyone can limit their impact on the environment by reducing what goes into the bins. ” explains Wilfried Arnoult, head chef of Escale et Habitat.

Reducing environmental impact whilst developing employment: “by improving the quality of the products we use, we have increased the number of customers and therefore the number of employees in the kitchen” says Mr Morin, director of the organisation.

Support from France Active:
France Active supported Escale et Habitat in 2011 and 2012 for refurbishment works.
In 2021, it continued to provide support for the modernisation of its facilities. France Active’s role was to guarantee the loans.
“If I had only one word to say to France Active, it would be: continue to do what you are doing with organisations like ours because we really need this support”.