The unmissable : Le Cap Bénat
Located in the town of Bormes les Mimosas, Cap Bénat is considered one of the most prestigious natural sites on the Var coast. Facing the sumptuous Golden Islands, this small rocky point advances its idyllic hills, wooded with oaks and pines, in the clear waters of the Mediterranean. Now listed and protected by the Coastal Conservatory, this popular holiday resort has an often overlooked secular history, linked to its strategic location.
This historically agricultural land took on military attire when, in the middle of the 18th century, Louis XV commissioned Jean-Louis de Hérault, then Baron de Bormes and owner of the Cap Bénat seigneury, to guard the coast to prevent English invasions. Thus, the Cap Blanc marine battery was built in 1811. It will remain in operation for two centuries. Abandoned after the Second World War, it is today abandoned.
After the revolution, the exploitation of cork and charcoal was in full swing. Cap Bénat then belonged to aristocratic families until it was sold in 1925 by the Marquise Marie Louise de Retz to Georges Marie Haardt. The latter was then vice-president of Citroën and returned from the black cruise, which then opened the first regular motorized line crossing the African continent. He had a road built from the Gau farm to the Cap Blanc battery, as well as the first house at the Pointe du Cristaou. On his death in 1935, his heirs ceded this property he had largely developed to real estate developers.
In the 1950s, Monsieur Touche built the first subdivisions of the Cap Bénat estate, with the support of the then President of the Republic, Vincent Auriol. The northern and central parts were subdivided in 1958 under the domain name of Gaou Bénat by François Leredu. The architects André Lefevre and Jean Aubert draw a plan with a vernacular organization which allows the constructions to be implanted in the site without disturbing the topography. The 700 very characteristic houses that make it up today are cleverly hidden in the folds of the superb rocky coast of the Moors. In 1975, in view of its still well preserved natural spaces, the site was classified, putting an end to the urbanization of the coast. A large part of the southwest, now managed by the coastal conservatory remains largely preserved, between woods and vines exploited by prestigious estates such as Châteaux Léoube, Brégançon, Malherbe, Clos Mireille ...
Do not miss :
Located behind the old battery, the Cap Bénat lighthouse was lit for the first time in 1863, on a cast-iron candelabra. It was not electrified until 1961 and automated in 1984. It is now piloted from the island of Porquerolles.For the record, its exact date of construction remains unknown today, following the accidental destruction of its archives.
In 1966, a small port was built in the area by the Société Civile de l'anse du Pradet. He appears in the film Le Grand Bleu directed by Luc Besson who later bought one of the most beautiful houses in Cape Town: the "castle" of La Cristaou, acquired in 1995.
