The Domaine du Rayol was founded by Alfred Théodore Courmes and his wife Thérèse between 1909 and 1922. Alfred Théodore Courmes acquired a valley in Rayol to settle there in retirement on the advice of his friend Alexandre Vigourel, a pharmacist later mayor of Bormes-les-Mimosas and the owner of the Old Bastide farm in the village. A businessman experienced in the art of highlighting wild and unexploited lands, Alfred Théodore Courmes immediately perceived the potential of this forest-covered valley plunging steeply into the sea and at the bottom of which flows a stream fed by several sources. Below, a small sandy beach framed by rocky points faces the Hyères Islands. It extends near the Rayolet Villa built in the eastern part of the estate in 1922.