Alex’s farmhouse in Tomorrow Is Ours is a shellfish farm located on the shores of the Thau lagoon, in Sète. This setting, recurring since the early seasons of the daily soap opera on TF1, represents the shellfish farming operation of the Bertrand family. The exterior scenes are filmed in the shellfish farming area bordering the lagoon, while part of the interiors is recreated in the studio.
A studio set complemented by a real shellfish farm in Sète
The uniqueness of Alex’s farmhouse lies in its operation in two distinct spaces. The wide shots and terrace scenes are filmed at a real shellfish farm, facing the Thau lagoon. Viewers recognize the breeding tables, flat-bottomed boats, and the typical low light of the Thau lagoon at the end of the day.
The interior sequences, on the other hand, are filmed in the production studios. These studios occupy a former bottling factory of the wine group Chai Skalli, at the entrance of Sète. The space, redesigned over approximately 1,600 m² of stage, hosts several permanent sets of the series, including a recreation of the interior of the farmhouse. This configuration allows the team to shoot without depending on the weather or the ambient noise from the active shellfish farms.
Locating Alex’s farmhouse in Tomorrow Is Ours thus involves identifying two geographical points: the shore of the Thau lagoon for the exteriors and the Chai Skalli site for the interiors.
Why the DNA production chose the Thau lagoon
Sète has served as the backdrop for Tomorrow Is Ours since the soap opera launched in 2017. The choice of the Thau lagoon for the shellfish farm is not coincidental. The Thau lagoon concentrates the majority of French Mediterranean shellfish production, providing an authentic setting without the need for artificial construction.
The artistic direction of the series sought a location that visually embodies the link between land and sea. The Thau lagoon, wedged between Mont Saint-Clair and the Sète-Marseillan lido, offers this dual landscape reading. The shellfish farms lined along the northern shore form a continuous front of colorful huts, stakes, and lines that plunge into the water.
A set rethought over the seasons
Alex’s farmhouse has not always looked the same on screen. In 2022, a new shellfish farm was introduced by the production, featuring a larger terrace and a wider visual opening onto the water. This change corresponded to a redesign of the artistic direction to align more closely with the identity of the Thau lagoon.
This type of adjustment is common in daily soap operas. Shooting constraints (accessibility of locations, neighborhood, site availability) sometimes force production to change the exact location while remaining in the same geographical area. The result on screen remains coherent because the landscape of the Thau lagoon is homogeneous over several kilometers.
Visiting the filming locations of Tomorrow Is Ours in Sète
Fans of the soap opera can find the farmhouse setting by going to the shore of the Thau lagoon. The Thau Archipelago tourist office organizes guided tours dedicated to the filming locations of DNA, which include a stop or a view of the shellfish farm area. These tours regularly sell out during the high season since 2024.
The proposed route is not limited to the farmhouse. Several other recurring sets from the series are located in downtown Sète and along the coast:
- The Spoon bar, whose exterior facades are filmed in the city, while the interior is a studio set
- Chloé Delcourt’s house, a permanent outdoor filming location in a residential neighborhood of Sète
- The Haut de Sète district, used for several everyday life scenes and identifiable by its sloping alleys
- The quays of the Royal Canal, visible in many episodes as a backdrop for the characters’ movements
Outdoor filming and local life
Sète remains an active city during filming. Production teams occupy the locations early in the morning or late in the day to limit interactions with residents and tourists. The shellfish farms of the Thau lagoon are operational businesses, which imposes a shooting schedule coordinated with the shellfish farmers.
DNA actors shoot between eight and ten months a year in Sète, a rhythm that has contributed to integrating the series into the daily life of the city. Ingrid Chauvin, who has played Chloé Delcourt since the beginning of the soap opera, has publicly mentioned her Sète habits, mentioning a seafood restaurant as her favorite spot.
Real farmhouse or movie set: what the viewer really sees
Alex’s farmhouse as it appears in the episodes is an assembly. The establishing shots (wide views that set the action) show a real farmhouse from the Thau lagoon. As soon as the camera moves indoors, the filming switches to the Chai Skalli studio set.
This technique of linking real sets and studio is standard in daily soap opera production. It explains why the farmhouse sometimes seems slightly different from one season to the next: the production can change the exterior farmhouse without altering the interior set. Attentive viewers will notice that the view from the terrace and the layout of the facade have evolved between the earlier seasons and the more recent ones.
The industrial site converted into a studio provides the production with enough space to host more than fifteen sets simultaneously. The shellfish farm occupies only a fraction of it, alongside the police station, the hospital, and the main characters’ apartments.
Alex’s farmhouse remains one of the most identifiable sets of Tomorrow Is Ours, as it anchors the fiction in a real landscape that thousands of visitors come to find each year on the shores of the Thau lagoon.