« Pépé Did » had a great affection for the trees he planted. In the memory of his Ukrainian homeland, there are around the house not only oaks, with the names of poets, but also this small shrub with red fruits ( “ordinary snowball bush”), tenderly called “Kalinka” in the famous russian folk song

Jakiv Vozniak (1904 – 1984), farmer of the plain of Odessa (Ukraine) had to leave his homeland in the 1920s. As a tireless worker, he founded a new life in the french prealps. In 1951 he purchased the “old” house in Vercheny as part of the estate, on which he was employed as an administrator. His dream was to receive here many countrymen….

Alexandra, his grand daughter lives in the town of Die (18 km from Vercheny). Very attached to her house, she planned the renovation and selected the decoration … and engaged her whole family in the construction. After 14 years of cleaning and ironing, but also lots of pleasure and new friends she decided to take a break with the end of 2022.

The next generation has overtaken in spring 2023: Heidi is now in charge of the house.

We have opted for an automatic wood heater which values the wood of the region. Our supplier is in a nearby village. The working room of the old house and the rooms of the 1st floor have an underfloor heating.

For the insolation we have essentially used ecological materials: cellulose, wood wool, lavender straw,… The next step of the expansion consisted in converting the hot water supply to solar energy. In 2023 we installed 70 solar panels on the roof.