Anse Severe Estate

The private estate at Anse Severe covers 22 acres of lush tropical land that fronts more than two-thirds of Anse Severe beach.

The site grows an amazing variety of tropical fruit and spices including bread fruit, jack fruit, oranges, bananas, star fruit, papaya, passion fruit, guava, mangoes, soursop, belimbi, coconuts, cinnamon, chillies, pumpkin, cucumber, and sugar cane.

With the future needs of the restaurant in mind we have re-started an organic farming area along the southern border of the property.  We aim to produce all of our own fresh fruit and vegetables for the juice bar and restaurant as well as supply the already tight market on La Digue.  In turn, all organic waste produced by the restaurant will be re-processed into fertiliser for the farm. 

Recent History

Once the private playground to the Hug family from the mid-1970’s when tourists to La Digue were few and far between.  Mr. Alois (John) Hug purchased the land looking for privacy and peace away from the crowded beaches of Europe.  The property then consisted of a simple bungalow, workshop, toolshed plus a simple wooden house.  The land was used for family holidays and Mr. Hug invited many friends and family to make use of the property over the years.

The previous owner had been Mr Rupert Bamber, a British national and engineer who had previously lived on Mahe and before that in South Africa.  Mr. Bamber had attempted to farm parts of the land and grew large numbers of coconut trees.  The coconuts were collected and sold to Union Estate to make copra.  Mr. Bamber also grew most of his own fruit and vegetables.  Mr. Bamber’s dream had been to sail around the world and he had designed and built his own yacht from trees on the property and sawn into timber by hand at his workshop.  Sadly for Mr. Bamber the yacht (and wooden tender) would be sold after his death having never been launched.