Surrounding

The estate has a superficies of about 2 acres for which the guests have full access and consists of :

• A large lawn,and some fruit trees.
• A pond (fenced for the children's safety) is fed by a stream from the woods splitting the garden in two.
• At the other side of the stream lays an orchard with a few old apple, cherry and prune trees.

Beyond the orchard, fields stretch out to the Haute Marlagne forest. This is a private forest and is also known as the "Bois du Duc" the Duke's wood, covering an area of 1750 acres. Remnant of the ancient Ardennes forest, it is made up of hard and softwood. There are about 40 different species of trees and shrubs. Guests staying at the Piroy Gite are allowed to walk in and discover this wonderful forest. With a little chance, they will see there a squirrel, a roe-deer, a fox or the traces of a stray wild boar. They will hear the mewing of the buzzard, the cries of the jay of the oaks, the "wit wit" of sittelle, the hammering of the woodpecker and perhaps even that of the black pecker.

Located on the "faille de midi", the region is, from a geological point of view, very interesting : whilst walking you can discover a wide range of flowers shrubs trees, differing, depending on the type of soil or sub soil.

The "Volcan du Piroy", ancient kaolin and eruptive stone quarry which ceased being exploited some fifty years ago, is now a nature reserve and situated about 100m from the gîte. Recolonised by nature, the area offers a spontaneous collection of botanical species as well as a wide variety of fauna.