Domaine de la Roseraye is a small former sugar factory in Sainte-Rose, on Reunion's south-east coast. We were some of the first people to visit it as part of a new series of guided tours organised by Les Aventuriers de l'Est in partnership with the site's owners, the Adam De Villiers family.
The site has belonged the Adam De Villiers family since the turn of the last century, but the former sugar factory ruins left there predate them and are probably mid-nineteenth century.
The remains include an (incomplete) boiler, a broken flywheel, and a small sugar cane mill. They are interesting because Domaine de la Roseraye is one of the few, if not the only, factory sites on Reunion that has been left virtually as it was. Its small size is typical of properties of the time, and it's a piece in the jigsaw puzzle of the island's sugar cane industry development.
Incidentally until the late 19th century the only way to reach Ste-Rose from the north and east was by sea. The bridge over the Rivière de l'Est - the world's longest at the time - was only built in 1894.
The family had some archaeological work carried out between 2015 and 2018 but frustratingly French regulations mean that if there is no active archaeological research being carried out the site has to be recovered in order to preserve what's underneath. Prior to 2015 it was a guest house, with rooms in the converted stables. The actual house is quite unprepossessing and was apparently never lived in full-time. Located in such a backwater it didn't need the bling-bling of houses such as those on St-Denis' Rue de Paris for example.
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| house at Domaine de la Roseraye |
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| verandah of the house at Domaine de la Roseraye |
Whoever planted the garden must have loved Heliconias, as I've rarely seen so many different varieties in one place!
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| Heliconia rostrata |
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| Heliconia chartacea |
There were also plenty of other plants and trees in the garden. As Ste-Rose is located on Reunion's windward coast it gets lots of rain, which means gardens in the area are extremely lush.
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| starfruit flowers |
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| Lipstick palm (Cyrtostachys renda) |
Incidentally a TV journalist was there at the same time as us, and her news segment can be seen here:
Domaine de la Roseraye guided visits take place on the 1st Sunday of every month and you should contact Les Aventuriers de l'Est at aventuriersdelest@gmail.fr or 0692 34 45 21 to book. Visits for 15 or more people can be organised on other dates.
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