The Moulin de la Pipe

The Moulin de la Pipe, named after a miller of the early twentieth century, Jean Géry, who was a great smoker and who was nicknamed "Jean de la Pipe". But on the Napoleonic cadastre, it is referenced under the historical name of "Moulin de Léaussel".After the flood of 1914 which carried off the canal, the dam and the mill installations, Jean de la Pipe sold the building to a resident of the Pescher du Bas. The purchaser Gagnol Adonis and his wife Julienne, born Bouillanne, transformed the Moulin into an inn from 1918. In 1935, they in turn gave it to Auguste Rey and Marie Bouvat of the hamlet of Ansage who exploited it for a year.In 1936, René Belle, who came from the Royans Isérois, bought them the Moulin. Advised by a traveling grocer of the valley, he launched the same year in the creation of an industrial dairy, producing butter and cheese with the milk collected in the neighboring communes.Meanwhile, the activity of the Inn could be maintained thanks to the excellent Georgette Charbonnel who prepared daily meals for workers and travelers. After providing employment to the inhabitants of Omblèze and the neighboring communes for half a century, the dairy experienced financial difficulties, so that it had to cease its activity in 1983. Georgette Charbonnel, the famous chef of the Moulin, which became a local celebrity, will have delighted the inhabitants of the region as well as the tourists from 1936 to 1985. She left the Pipe in 1986, where she lived and worked for 49 years.