VIDEO. Alexis Robert, 81, founded an eco-place in the Brocéliande forest

“I am happy in my cabin. It’s simplicity.“At 81, Alexis Robert lives in an eco-place. It is an ecological place that he shares with a small community, which he founded several years ago when he retired. Each year, it welcomes up to 2,000 people in the Brocéliande forest, which is located between Ille-et-Vilaine and Morbihan.

“I live in a kerterre which was built about 12-15 years ago. It’s a small round house that’s 10 square meters inside, made of straw, earth, lime and hemp, with a green roof… in part, at least. It’s been at least 60 years since I dreamed of living in a round house, well that’s it!”, smiles the octogenarian. With his neighbors, they live in a very ecological way, respecting nature as much as possible. “We have four dry toilets. So it’s scattered on the ground. With the poop bins next to it. And there is a cabin for showers, solar. We have a lot of nettles, too, which we leave because we eat a lot of nettles here. Me, in the morning, for breakfast, I eat raw nettles!”

“When I arrived, when I got the land, I had no program, I had no budget, I had nothing. And three weeks later, there were 300 people anyway. It’s built like that. With the people who passed what”, explains Alexis Robert. “What do I want to convey? That we can live simply. And happy”, he concludes.