Château de Bonnefontaine was built at the end of the 15th century and modified over time. Today the fortress is inhabited but its owners let down their guard for visitors longing to explore the 25 ha of landscaped grounds and gardens. Designed and created by well-known landscape gardeners Denis Bülher and Édouard André, the grounds are a typical example of late 19th century English gardens. Stroll around the vast open spaces, which offer sudden surprising perspectives framed by plants or copses. Giant sequoia, cypress and chestnut trees form a silent, majestic setting for this romantic green haven.
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/3382/chateau-de-bonnefontaine/

Château de Bonnefontaine

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Built in 1620, the château de la Ballue was, at the begining of the 19th century and in the middle of the twentieth, a priviledged place for the writers and the artists.Although la Ballue was left alone for 30 years – its formal gardens had returned to a wild meadow when in 1973 started their restoration – reinterpreted and with a new design,- they regain nowdays, their original nature besides a contemporary garden inspired by the 17th century baroque play with perpective and light and shadow.
Separated from the formal garden by the wisteria alley supported by 12 colums of taxus, the side garden was designed by two futurists architects François Hebert Stevens & Paul Maymont in the purest mannerist style.
An initiatory path, a green maze which can only be understood at the end of it, so man can have a global vision of it and which offers 13 surprises from the mysterious chamber to the musical one, from the one covered with fern, to the booby trap chamber then to the sented chamber, the green theatre to Diana’s temple, and the maze by itself.
Classical gardens created on the terrace facing south, in the XVIIth century, abandoned, turned into a patato field…
1973 : Creation by two futurist architects of. A diagonal garden of surprises by Paul Maymont, A classical garden by François-Hebert Stevens.
Union of modern geometrical movement and classical symbolism.
A labyrinth of path, play with perspectives & secret chambers.
1989-1995 : Gardens left alone. Everything returned wild and the trees growing high.
1996 : Gardens re-discovered by their new owners Marie-France Barrère & Alain Schrotter.
Playing with the growth of the trees that have become bare at the foot, add of a new vision & a new dimension.
Play with light & shadow, re-creation of some of the inner chambers adding more historical & intellectual references. Harmony in green, blue and white.
Add of side visions.
With passion and originality, expression and transmission of love for harmony between traditional architecture and contemporary art.
1999 : The gardens become a historical monument.
https://www.laballuejardin.com

Château de La Ballue

Le château du Rocher-Portail ou Rocher-Sénéchal est un château du xviie siècle situé à Maen Roch en Ille-et-Vilaine.
Localisation
Le château est situé dans le Coglais, dans le nord-est du département français d'Ille-et-Vilaine, à une vingtaine de kilomètres au nord-ouest de Fougères, sur la commune de Maen Roch. Localisé au nord du bourg de Saint-Brice-en-Coglès, proche de l'ancienne commune de La Selle-en-Coglès (aujourd'hui intégrée dans la commune nouvelle des Portes du Coglais), le château est situé au bord d'un étang alimenté par le ruisseau des Échelles.
Historique
L'édifice est classé au titre des monuments historiques par arrêté du 27 septembre 19611. Ce château, construit en granit, avec des encadrements de baies en granite, est coiffé de superbes toitures, comportant des corniches à modillons à la base du toit. Édifié de 1596 à 1607, il présente un corps central flanqué de deux ailes en équerre : l'une s'ouvre sur la cour par une élégante galerie Renaissance d'inspiration italienne, avec pilastres cannelés à l'extrémité de laquelle se trouve une chapelle munie de canonnières ; l'autre percée d'un portail central. C'est le château que Gilles de Ruellan, un proche d'Henri IV, et du cardinal de Richelieu.
Annexes
Bibliographie
Philippe Bonnet et Jean-Jacques Rioult, Dictionnaire guide du patrimoine. Bretagne, Éditions du patrimoine, Paris, 2002, 531p., p. 416.
Christophe Amiot, Les châteaux bretons à plan quadrangulaire et à galerie: l'exemple du Rocher-Portail, Mémoires de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Bretagne, tome LXXIV, Actes du Congrès de fougères 6-7-8 Septembre 1995, Rennes, 1996, 565p., pp.519-561.

Château du Rocher-Portail

The Château de Maintenon is a château, developed from the original castle, situated in the commune of Maintenon in the Eure-et-Loir département of France. It is best known as being the private residence of the second spouse of Louis XIV, Madame de Maintenon.
The castle has been classified as a Monument historique since 1944 by the French Ministry of Culture.
Description
Construction
The construction of the castle began in the 13th and ended in roughly the 18th century. In the early 16th century it was purchased by Louis XII's treasurer Jean Cottereau, who transformed the castle into a country house. In the 17th century it was rebuilt for Madame de Maintenon, who purchased the estate in 1674.
The château's main features are the keep, constructed in the 13th century, and the principal corps de logis, flanked by three round towers, one at the avant-cour and the others at the bridge across the moat. The east and west wings frame a cour d'honneur, beyond which is the moat filled by the waters of the Eure, and, beyond, the parterre and park. The picturesque massing of the varied towers and roofs pleased François-René de Chateaubriand who found its special character was like that of an abbey or an old town, "with its spires and steeples, grouped at hap-hazard".
At the far end of the gardens is the aqueduct, crossing the Canal de l'Eure, also known as the canal de Louis XIV, ordered by Louis XIV. Its colossal scale impressed Chateaubriand, who said that it was "a work worthy of the Caesars". It was constructed by the Marquis de Vauban between 1685 and 1690 in order to transport water from the Eure River to the gardens and fountains at the Château de Versailles.
In the 17th century there was an orangerie constructed as well as stables.
Interior
The interior has been restored, and furniture and decoration can be seen.
The petits appartements (situated on the first floor of the corps de logis) include:
a passage leading to the bedroom of Madame de Maintenon, an antechamber, and a private oratory
the bedroom of the maréchal de Noailles, also preceded by an antechamber.
The grands appartements (part of the round tower) include:
two salons decorated in the Chinese style
the salon du Roi, Louis XIV's bedroom when he stayed at Maintenon as guest of his secret wife
a 19th-century billiard room
a library in the style Napoléon III, the old library of Madame de Maintenon;
a portrait gallery showing painting of the House of Noailles, who inherited the property at the death of Madame de Maintenon in 1718; in the gallery there is a cenotaph in her honour.
The other towers is not open to visitors.
Gardens and aqueduct
The main parterre was designed by the famous landscape architect André Le Nôtre who also worked at Versailles, Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Marly. For many years, the parterre had two interlacing "L"'s, in honour of Louis XIV. In 2013, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of André Le Nôtre, the garden was reconstructed in its initial form of a "french formal garden". Two allées, given modern names in honour of Le Nôtre and Racine, border the Eure river.
At the far end, cutting through the gardens, is the aqueduct built from 1685 to supply the fountains of the park of the Palace of Versailles. The project meant that water was diverted from the Eure river some 80 kilometres (50 mi) away. The arches of the structure reach a height of 60 feet. Vauban was in charge of the works.
The aqueduct had to have 47 arcades to the first row, 195 arcades to the second and 390 to the third one. The wars of Louis XIV prevented the work's completion.
It is also classified as a Monument historique since 1875 by the French Ministry of Culture.
History
Succession of owners and inhabitants
Famille de Maintenon
End of the 10th century : Avesgaud I; first Lord of Maintenon (seigneur de Maintenon);
From 1028: Germond I, son of the above;
Cited from 1053: Avesgaud II, son of the above;
Cited from 1083: Germond II, son of the above;
Cited from 1086 to 1120: Mainier, son of the above;
Cited from 1123 to 1135 : Amaury I, son of the above;
Around 1150: Guillaume, son of the above;
Around 1180: Jean, son of the above;
From 1200 à 1237: Amaury II, son of the above;
Around 1240: Amaury III, son of the above;
1248: Hugues, son of the above;
Around 1260: Jean, brother of the above;
13th century : Amaury IV, son or nephew of the above;
Beginning of the 13th century : X (died before 1331), son of the above;
Circa 1346 to 1373 : Amaury V, son of the above;
End of the 13th century : Thibaud, son of the above;
Around 1473: Jean, son of the above;
Around 1485: Robert, son of the above;
At the end 1497: Amaury Loresse, écuyer
Cottereau Family
At the end of 1503, Jean Cottereau;
Angennes Family
1526: Jacques d’Angennes ( – 1562), seigneur de Rambouillet, married Isabeau ( – 1554), daughter of the above;
Before 1573: Louis d’Angennes (1536 – after 1601), First marquis de Maintenon, baron de Meslay, seigneur de La Moutonnière, Moutier and of La Villeneuve, son of the previous, married Françoise d'O;
1607: Charles, marquis de Maintenon, baron de Meslay, seigneur de La Moutonnière, du Moutier et de La Villeneuve, son of the previous, married Françoise, Lady of Blainville, Salvert and of Saint-Gervais;
1640: Louis, marquis de Maintenon, baron then marquis de Meslay, seigneur de La Moutonnière, of Moutier, and La Villeneuve, de Blainville and of Saint-Gervais, son of the above, married Marie Le Clerc du Tremblay;
Second part of the 17th century : Charles François (1648–1691), marquis de Maintenon, épouse Catherine du Poyet de Poincy.
Famille d'Aubigné
1674: Madame de Maintenon (1635–1719) bought the marquisate from the previous;
1677: Madame de Montespan gave birth to her youngest daughter, future Duchess of Orléans;
1689 and 1691: Racine wrote the tragedies Esther and Athalie for the Maison royale de Saint-Louis;
House of Noailles
1698: Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné (1684–1739), niece of Madame de Maintenon, wife of Adrien Maurice de Noailles (1678–1766) ; Madame de Maintenon willed it to her niece;
1766: Louis de Noailles (1713–1793),son and heir of the above, he married in 1737 to Catherine de Cossé-Brissac.
1793: Jean de Noailles (1739–1824), son of the above; he married in 1755 to Louise d'Aguesseau;
1824: Paul de Noailles (1802–1885), great nephew of the above; he married Alice de Rochechouart de Mortemart
1885: Jules Charles Victurnien de Noailles, duc de Noailles (1826–1895), son of the above; married in 1851 Clotilde de La Ferté-Meun;
1895: Adrien de Noailles, duc de Noailles (1869–1953), son of the above; married in 1892 Yolande de Luynes ;
Jean Maurice Paul Jules de Noailles, duc d’Ayen (1893–1945), their son, died in action; he had married in 1919 Solange de Labriffe;
1953 : Geneviève de Noailles (1921–1998), daughter of Jean, heiress of the château; she married in 1947 Jean Gaston Amaury Raindre.
Fondation du château de Maintenon
1983 : Geneviève and Jean Raindre create the "Fondation Mansart" and bequeath the property to this foundation.
2005 : The foundation transfers the management to the Conseil général d'Eure-et-Loir.

Château de Maintenon

The Château de Baronville is located between Paris and Chartres in France near the town of Béville-le-Comte, Eure-et-Loir.
It rises in the center of a vast park anchored with several lakes. The château was built for grand receptions during the Second Empire and hosted many prestigious guests. The harmonious architecture of the building is the result of a union between spaciousness and refinement in the classical style.
The palace can be visited in group visits and can be rented exclusively. At Baronville, you may celebrate your wedding, hold a seminar or a business meeting, launch a product, or use for a photo shoot or film setting.
From the Roman Empire to the Counts de Rougé
Nowadays' Baronville is the third château built on the same place.
The name Baronville dates back to the Roman Empire. It was at this time that the place was called Baronis Villa, meaning 'house of the baron', itself a title held by 'hommes forts', who were charged with the protection of the empire's borders. In the Middle Ages, the château was a fortified manor house, of which there still remains a significant part of the drainage system, the foundations and cellars. Local legend has it that the Pucelle d'Orléans, or Saint Joan of Arc, saved Baronville and the surrounding countryside from English occupation during the Hundred Years' War.
Between 1620 and 1623, a Louis XIII château was built on the same site by Claude de Montescot and his son, Jacques.
In 1783, the d'Aligre family bought Baronville. Originally from Chartres, this family had already given two great chancellors of France and Gardes des Sceaux: Etienne Ist, marquis d'Aligre, Chancellor of France from 1624 to 1635, and Etienne II, marquis d'Aligre, Chancellor from 1674 to 1677. Etienne François, marquis d'Aligre and count de Marans spent a considerable part of his fortune in restoring the château and its former gardens.
The property of the d'Aligre family, as well as their name and titles, were transferred by marriage to the noble house of the marquess of Pomereu by royal command on 21 December 1825. Armand, marquis de Pomereu d'Aligre, destroyed the second château in 1867 and commissioned the architect Léon de Sanges to design the present château, which was finished in 1868. The same talented workers worked on the roofs of Baronville, of Mont Saint-Michel (France) and on the Statue of Liberty in New York (USA).
During the World War I, Catherine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Viscountess de Pomereu d'Aligre, set up a military hospital on the estate. During World War II, Field-Marshal Friedrich Paulus made his headquarters in Baronville, and several other German units (including the Luftwaffe) occupied the Château. After decades of restorations of the park and the palace, it could be rented for exclusive events since 1980.
The Estate is now home of the Count and Countess de Rougé (see House of Rougé), since the last Pomereu d'Aligre of this line married Count Claude de Rougé.
In 2011, the Count Aymeric de Rougé, great-grand son of the Marquis de Pomereu d'Aligre, restored (or "rebuilt") most of the Carrousel de Baronville, in order to host events and seminars. This part is opening in 2012, after one year of refurbishments.
Famous guests
Among other famous guests, Baronville hosted American model Hilary Rhoda, Korean actress Han Ye-seul, Chinese actress Angelababy, Brazilian footballer Ronaldo, French actress Audrey Tautou, Italian-American actor Alessandro Nivola, Daniela Cicarelli, Roger Hanin, Belgian filmstar Benoît Poelvoorde, Prince Jean of Luxembourg, Anne Fontaine, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, French actress Marie Gillain, Sir Elton John, Mr. Pierre Salinger, Michel Galabru, French actor, Emperor Bảo Đại, 13th and last emperor of Vietnam, Charlotte Casiraghi, Philippe Séguin, as well as a considerable number of French ministers, international diplomats and many others.

Château de Baronville

Le château de Nogent-le-Roi est un château situé à Nogent-le-Roi, commune du département français d'Eure-et-Loir.
Historique
Pierre de Brézé fit construire un château fort au milieu du xve siècle sur l'emplacement d'un ancien château lorsque le roi de France, Charles VII, lui céda la seigneurie. Ce château fut détruit sous la Révolution et le château actuel date de 1863 et fut construit par Alfred Chapelain dans un style néo Louis XIII. Il reste de l'ancien château un mur de courtine et deux tours carrées.
Les vestiges de la forteresse médiévale, ainsi que l'éolienne pour l'alimentation en eau datant du Second Empire, sont inscrits au titre de monument historique depuis 1993.

Château de Nogent-le-Roi

The Château de Fougères is a castle in the commune of Fougères in the Ille-et-Vilaine département of France. The castle was built on a naturally protected site, a rock emerging from a swamp surrounded by a loop of the Nançon river acting as a natural moat. It had three different enclosures: the first for defensive purposes; the second for day to day usages in peacetime and for safety of the surrounding populations in times of siege; and the last for the protection of the keep. In all it has an impressive 13 towers.
History
The first wooden fort was built by the House of Amboise in the eleventh century. It was destroyed in 1166 after it was besieged and taken by King Henry II of England. It was immediately rebuilt by Raoul II Baron de Fougères who used to keep his donkeys there - and to this day they can often be seen grazing in the castle courtyard. Fougères was not involved in the Hundred Years' War until 1449 when the castle was taken by surprise by an English mercenary. In 1488 the French troops won the castle back after a siege and the castle lost its military role. Today the castle belongs to the municipality and is one of Europe's largest medieval fortresses.

Château de Fougères

Today the chateau and its round towers form a curious pink brick silhouette in the village. Its history goes back to the Romans, who built a farm to supply Rome with wheat. Over the years this farm was fortified then, during the religious wars, it became a fortified castle surrounded by defensive moats. Due to the status of marquisate by Louis XIV, the chateau was abandoned. In 1760 it was extremely deteriorated, and it was decided that the architect Liégeon would be asked to re-build a simple residence, using the same underpinnings, in a similar way to 13th century service quarters. During the revolution, the property was seized then re-bought as national property.
http://www.marandoavelo.com/the-offers/tours-heritage/patrimoine-culturel/chateau-de-denonville-denonville