About us

We spent a couple of years of thinking, preparing and orientating how to change our lives to follow our passions for food, cooking and baking. We realise the best way to make it happen is to start a bed and breakfast in France.

In 2016 we finally found our dream home in the Puy the Dome, the French Auvergne region. We abandoned our IT and photography careers to focus all our attention to the renovation of ‘Le Moulin Malin’. Originally, at the beginning of the 19th century the building was a farm and mill. After a few different occupants and owners we settled down and converted the place into a luxury chambre d’hôtes, a French B&B.

Our passions

Berbera loves cooking and when she was little she wanted to become a chef. She bought her first cookery book when she was 12. That particular one has grown into a collection of hundreds. To become a chef never happened but she followed pastry courses at the Bakery Institute and also at Michelin starred restaurant Savelberg.

Maarten has a passion for bread and after a boulanger course at the Bakery Institute he indulged in the art of bread baking.

The Artisan Experience

When we lived in The Hague, we started with the Artisan Experience next to our day jobs. Every Saturday we baked bread and pastry on order. Rapidly, it became unfeasible as baking 20-30 breads and the same amount of tartelettes is a real challenge from a domestic kitchen. We soon reached the limits of our capacity as we were also asked for catering jobs on a regular basis.