The Apple Brandy Landscape stands on the southern slopes of Mont-Saint-Michel beneath medieval Abbey walls and amongst ancient terraced gardens. It comprises three programmes connected by water: an apple brandy distillery, a bathhouse refuge for pilgrimage and a rainwater collection system all tethered to a singular route from the Bay to the Abbey. From the entrance Gatehouse Bottling Plant the journey of production and pilgrimage moves past the Water Treatment Watchtower up through the Barrel Wall Forest to the elevated deck with inhabited wall and apple brandy distillery beneath. Apple orchards fill the ancient terraces to the south whilst water purification walls form an enclosed garden to the east meeting the Old School Reservoir and water collection roof before arriving at the Pilgrim Bathhouse and the Abbey beyond.
In the 21st century Mont-Saint-Michel is connected to the mainland for water and electricity. Natural springs and ancient water cisterns served the needs of earlier generations. Rainwater remains a key resource and the project foregrounds roofscape water collection, purification in charcoal walls, distribution through the brandy production process – washing, mashing, fermenting and distilling - cleansing in the treatment tower and redistribution to the Bay.
An inhabited wall and elevated deck house programme and channel water, existing buildings – a watchtower and schoolhouse - are renovated and repurposed for production and hydrology. Rainwater water collected on roofs is transported into a water purification garden. Purified water is used in brandy production and orchard irrigation. Potable water is channeled for public consumption.
