Research residencies

Time and proximity, on the site of the work

Residential stays can give a research team the time and proximity needed for a field campaign, a practice-based study, or sustained collaborative work.

Staying on site allows work to follow its own timetable: an early sampling round, a trial continued over several days, or a team returning to the same material after discussion. Accommodation and workspace are arranged around the needs of the visit.

Suitable uses

Field campaigns needing a base close to the land, with somewhere to handle and record what is collected.
Practice-based studies where making, observation, and discussion continue across several days.
Co-design and participatory sessions that bring researchers together with practitioners and local participants.
Project and working meetings that need concentrated time rather than a conference venue.
Individual research visits for source consultation or site study, by arrangement.

A shower cubicle finished in stone-effect panels, with a rain head, mixer and tray. — One of the shared showers on the residency floor.

A corridor seen from the stair head, with a painted balustrade and a plank floor. — The stair to the upper floors. Access to the residency floor is by stair.

What is available

Rooms: Fifteen private bedrooms — five on the ground floor and ten on the first — let as one private room per guest, within an operating capacity of fifteen people.
Bathrooms: Shared. No bedroom has its own bathroom. One bathroom, three showers and two WCs on the first floor, with further sanitary facilities at ground level.
Lift and step-free access: There is no lift. The ten first-floor bedrooms are reached by stair only. The five ground-floor bedrooms avoid the stair, but the building is not adapted for wheelchair users and we do not present it as accessible. Tell us what you need and we will say plainly whether this building can meet it.
Workspace: Three workrooms on three levels, about 210 m² including the annexe, described on the infrastructure page. Two can run in parallel, so a trial can stay set up while discussion happens elsewhere.
Meals: The building has its own commercial kitchen, so meals are prepared on site for its own guests. What is provided, and whether a stay is catered or self-catered, is agreed per stay.
Connectivity: Fibre connectivity serves the main buildings. Confirm specific bandwidth or reliability requirements in advance.
The wider estate: The complex is historic, and its spaces differ in age and character. Step-free routes exist in some parts and not in others; we will tell you which before you commit. The figures above describe this residency building only, not the estate as a whole.
Setting: Mas-Grenier, Tarn-et-Garonne, approximately 45 km from Toulouse.

Research collaboration and residential bookings

Two ways to work here, with the responsibilities agreed from the outset.

For a research collaboration, we agree the Abbey’s contribution to the question, the work and its records. The agreement identifies the scientific lead, the relevant operators, access conditions and how contributions are credited.

For a residential booking, accommodation and agreed workspace support your own work. We provide a written offer setting out the spaces, services, availability and commercial terms before a booking is confirmed.

Tell us which arrangement you need so we can prepare the appropriate offer.

How to arrange a stay

Tell us the work, the dates, the number of people, and what the space has to do.
We confirm what is genuinely available for those dates, including anything that is not.
We agree access, responsibilities, and terms in writing before anything is booked.

Enquire about a residency Spaces and facilities