Welcome to Taoulères Guesthouse

Situated in the charming little fortified town of Hastingues, on the border with  Landes, the Basque Country and the Béarn, we will welcome you in our guesthouse located on the hillside that overlooks the flood plain of the river gaves. On the ground floor, there are two comfortable rooms, entirely renovated, where you will fully enjoy the countryside. The garden room has two windows, one with a view on the trees, and the other of the garden. It features a king size bed and recessed single bed. The Pyrenees'room is south facing, opening on to a private small wooden terrace where it is a treat to relax.

In the shadow of oak trees, on a terrace set with garden furniture, or on the veranda, you will taste the fruits and vegetables of the kitchen garden.

It's also possible to prepare your meals in our kitchen.

For walks, two options are offered: to the medieval bastide of Hastingues o to Arthous Abbey, as we are in between the two and we are also about two kilometres from a hiking route.

For those loving nature, cycling or horse-riding, you can use the towpath along the waterways where car  speed is limited. It also should be mentioned that we are  on the border  of two distincts regions with differents landscapes: the plain of the Orthe country in the north and the hills of the Basque Country  in the south...

We will be happy to share with you our favourite cycling and hiking routes, discoveries and strolls of all kinds...in the near vicinity or in the area.

Walk one-Guided tour of the bastide of Hastingues

Leave your car in the car park at the gates of the bastide. You will enter the bastide through the gateway on the south side, also called the prison. Look at the hinges, the location of the portcullis and the remnants of the fortifications that used to surround the burg. The bastide was founded in 1305 by Jean de Hastings, seneschal d'Aquitaine.

You might notice that Hastingues was built on a rounded-shaped hill which earned it is sometime nickname of "lo Carcolh" (a mythical beast similar looking to a snail in French folklore).

ILDP 1593 Jean de Laplante royal sergeant. Have a look at the two arches placed side by side supporting an angel with spread wings. On the main street, you willsee the narrow gaps between the houses and the differents roof levels.

The bayle and jurats were the magistrates of the English Court that used to administer the bastide in the 14th century. Hastingues was then an independent city. It used to have its seal, and its own justice, its police sergeants and levied taxes on goods in transit through the River Gave .

Around the place, there was amanway. It attracted a high number of visitors because of the weekly market on Tuesdays and its two yearly fairs. Hastingues accounted for 220 inhabitants within the town itself in the Middle Ages, including merchants, priests, surgeons, one doctor, three school teachers, craftsmen like bollermakers (on rue du Pic), judges, clerks, lawyers and also, fishermen and boatmen that brought people across the mountain streams.

Walk to -A walk of approximately 3 kms down the hiking trail to the north of the wood of  Taoulères, then to the east along the Arthous Stream to the Abbey of Arthous...

The abbey was founded in 1167 by members of the Prémonstratensian Order; as they were primarily monks, they collected a tithe. They taught farming, cultivated the land and herded flocks. The surrounding population was mostly made up of sherpherds who had to constantly fight with farmers who wanted to take possession of the meadows. The neighbouring village of Came was burned several times. 

Arthous Abbey was on a secondary route from Santiago de Compostela, took in needy or sick pilgrims.

The abbey was sold  as a national asset on 14 May 1791 during the French Revolution. Restored by the Landes Departmental Council, it became the heritage centre for the department.

During your visit to Arthous Abbey, pay particular attention to the column capitals and exterior corbels which form a collection of decorative patterns worth admiring and discussing. Among them you willrecognise symbolic animals: the wolf, the lamb, the lion, the bear, the monkey, aswell as characters presented on the theme of the cardinal sins.