Château Life in the Dordogne - XXL Happyness Corporate Event Agency

Assystem wanted to take its teams out into the countryside, in an exceptional setting. We took over a château in the Dordogne and made sure the region was as much on the agenda as the meetings.

The challenge

Give Assystem’s teams a seminar that combines professional efficiency with a genuine break, in a setting that inspires as much as it restores.

Leaving the office to do exactly what you do at the office misses the point. Assystem wanted a countryside seminar in the true sense: a venue that changes the relationship to work, a programme with room to breathe, and festive moments that create the memories teams take back to their daily lives.

Our mission

Find the right château in the Dordogne, design a programme that alternates meetings and experiences, and make local roots the common thread, because a successful seminar in the Périgord should smell of truffles, not instant coffee.

The Dordogne has something few regions still have: the ability to slow down people who move too fast. We built the whole programme around that.

What have we built? Our 5 Culture Makers Moments

Exclusive hire of a stunning château in the Dordogne, golf course included

An entire estate to ourselves: the château, the reception spaces, the golf course. The setting works instantly: shoulders drop, phones disappear, conversations change in nature. When a venue is that beautiful, it does half the cohesion work on its own.

Meetings at the château

Working time set in surroundings that give it a different colour. No generic meeting room: the château’s own spaces taken over for plenaries and workshops. The same efficiency, in a setting that reminds everyone this trip was worth the journey.

The little local producers’ market

The moment that surprises with its simplicity and stays with you for a long time. Périgord producers invited onto the estate: their products, their stories, their way of talking about their land. A market at the château that celebrates local produce and creates a gentle, convivial interlude rooted in the region. The Dordogne on the plate and in the conversation.

Bespoke treasure hunt through the château

The château as a playground to explore. A bespoke treasure hunt designed to reveal the estate differently: its nooks, its history, its hidden details. Mixed teams in cheerful competition, discovering together a place they would never have explored alone. Team spirit through curiosity.

DJ, spa & festive moments

Well-earned collective decompression. A DJ to raise the energy in the evening, spa access for those who prefer relaxation to the dance floor, and the freedom to choose how to end the day. Because a successful seminar also leaves room for everyone to recharge in their own way.

Behind the scenes

Finding the right château: the art of selection

A château in the Dordogne available for exclusive hire, with a golf course, suitable meeting spaces, on-site accommodation and the catering capacity for a corporate seminar: it exists, but you have to earn it. We visited, compared, negotiated. Once found, the final venue was an obvious choice: it had everything we were looking for, plus what we hadn’t thought to ask for.

The producers’ market as an editorial statement

Organising a small local producers’ market in a Périgord château is far more than a filler activity. It’s a way of saying this region has more to offer than scenery: people, know-how, products that tell the story of a place. And it’s often the moment participants talk about most, because it breaks with everything they know about the usual seminars.

The bespoke treasure hunt as a way to reveal the venue

A generic treasure hunt can be run anywhere. A bespoke treasure hunt at the château is a creation: written for this particular estate, its spaces, its history, its quirks. It takes time to design, test and fine-tune. The result: teams leave feeling they truly inhabited the place, not just slept in it.

The work-pleasure balance as the real design challenge

Too many meetings: people switch off. Too many activities: the seminar loses its purpose. The right balance is when each sequence sets up the next, when the producers’ market at lunchtime makes people want to work well in the afternoon, and when the treasure hunt at the end of the day earns the party that follows.

A successful countryside seminar is one where teams come back to the office with the energy they had lost and shared memories that change the way they work together.