Peralada Mas Marcè

Peralada Mas Marcè is run by a family that has been dedicated to shepherding for over six generations. Located in the heart of the Empordà region, we have focused on reviving the Ovella Ripollesa, a native Catalan breed, and producing artisanal and organic products derived from its milk.

We open the doors of our farm to offer guided tours with tastings and workshops, a complete experience to get to know the day-to-day life of an organic and sustainable farm, without losing our values of tradition, authenticity and recovery of rural heritage.

The objective of this project is to recover three values that had been lost until now:

• The Empordà re-cooking, which is a traditional product of the area.
• The vegetable rennet "herbacolo" for the preparation of the products.
• To recover the Ripollesa sheep breed, native to Catalonia, as a milk producer.

One of our goals is to prioritize feeding our sheep exclusively on pasture and grains from our farm. Everything is organic. The milk from our Ripollesa sheep is of very high quality, producing half a liter of milk per day in two milkings. It is the main ingredient in all the products we make, such as rum, yogurt, kefir, and cheese.

We invite you to come and experience the daily life of an organic and sustainable farm through a guided tour with tastings and workshops, which are always offered together. During the visit, we will see the sheepfold, where you can bottle-feed an orphaned lamb, view the workshop from the outside, and taste the main products we make on the farm, such as baked goods, yogurts, and cheeses.

The visit includes two workshops:

• Annealing workshop, where you will learn how to curdle milk with natural vegetable rennet from Herbacol to obtain annealed cheese and, subsequently, extract the whey to obtain cottage cheese, becoming aware of the process of making fresh cheese.
• Wool workshop, where visitors can experience how wool was carded before the industrial revolution with hand carders and learn how to make a small accessory with wool.

*The total duration of the activity is approximately two hours.

Visiting hours are:

• Autumn and winter: at 10:30 a.m.
• Spring and summer: at 10:00 a.m.

Tours are available in Catalan, Spanish, or French. Advance booking is required to check availability, and tours are offered year-round. They are open to families, schools, and organized groups.

After realizing that consumers were genuinely interested in how we make our products, we felt it was appropriate to open the doors of our farm without losing our values: tradition, authenticity and recovered values.