Eure. A treasure of local heritage, the Château de Saint-Maclou tells its story

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Since last year, the tourist attraction agency Eureka of the Department of Eure travels the territory via its “roadshow” (presentation tour), in a small van nicknamed “Jean Mich'”. Objective: to elect at the end of the year the top 13 of Euroises wonders and thus highlight the nuggets of the territory.

At the beginning of October 2024, the 8th stage of the roadshow took place in the country of Honfleur-Beuzeville and began with the Château de Saint-Maclou, one of the wonders of the territory, not often highlighted. SO here is his story!

A tormented story

Built in 17th century, between 1604 and 1630, this is the very example of a so-called Louis XIII residence, made of Saint-Jean bricks (fine terracotta briquette) and stones.

Its history has known many vicissitudes. Originally, it belonged to the same family for two centuries, that of Giverville, a nobility purchased thanks to a large fortune.

In 1810, it was sold to a very large family from Saint-André-d'Hébertot, the Vauquelins, including Armand Vauquelin (from 1867 to 1882), then Jacques-Dominique Vauquelin (from 1886 to 1892) were the mayors of Beuzeville. But subsequently remained empty for 100 years, it was taken over by the department of Eure in 1970. “It was the house of pigeons”, it was said at the time.

It was restored for around ten years. The wings and the chapel, certainly built without authorization, were then destroyed. From 1980, a British man bought it and built a swimming pool more than twenty meters longthen a Belgian, who dismantled the estate, transforming agricultural land into building land.

Long renovation and guest rooms

In 2017, the current owners, Arnaud and Géraldine Duchesnefell in love with the place, falling in love with its perspectives and its brightness:

It lets in so much light that we call it the lace castle!

They bought it not only to make it their home, but also to install guest rooms and a gîtewhich allows them to continue to maintain the castle and its seven-hectare park.

“Everything was degraded,” says the owner, “no more heating, broken windows, rot everywhere, this nasty fungus that eats away at the wood… Everything had to be redone, moats, woodwork, with certain beams weighing a ton each, electricity , bedrooms, bathrooms, heating using geothermal energy… This work took five years. »

Partially listed as heritage

Corinne Lepage, Minister of the Environment between 1995 and 1997, had made register the castle as a historic monument to protect it:

But just the facade of the castle and its exterior, the moat, and the 200-year-old avenue of lime trees, not the interior. When a lime tree dies, I absolutely have to replace it!

The interior transformation is breathtaking, and rather modern in style, while retaining as much of the Saint-Jean bricks as possible. “ We decided, designed and chose everything ourselves, including wallpaper found in England, bedding… No architect or decorator! »

Some beautiful old pieces remain, like this 19th century baroque fireplaceerected to the glory of Nicolas Vauquelin, pharmacist and chemist, who discovered the elements chrome and beryllium, thus receiving the Legion of Honor from the hands of Napoleon I.

There was a cast of his head in the middle of the fireplace, but it was stolen. We will still have it classified soon.

Such a place could not remain completely unnoticed. It was notably referenced by The Figaro Magazine, which publishes a special magazine every year in May, listing the 200 most beautiful guest rooms. It has also been noticed in high-end decoration magazines.

Contact : 06 80 11 78 66.

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