Bois des Moutiers

A large park overlooking the sea and formal gardens surrounding a manor house make up the Bois des Moutiers.

Consistent with this, the buildings of the Bois des Moutiers are conceived as a full-fledged work where every detail of wrought iron and woodwork has been taken care of during their creation.

[4] The Adoration of the Magi, a tapestry made by Morris & Co to a design of Edward Burne-Jones, was hidden during the war by the family, who eventually sold it to Yves St Laurent and Pierre Bergé.

[6] The gardens, seven in all, are enclosed areas (chambres verts – "green rooms" of plants) surrounding the house on the south and east sides.

[4] Reflecting the Theosophist philosophy of Guillaume Mallet and his wife, Marie-Adélaïde Grunelius, "it was understood that the architecture and gardens should work together towards the harmonious development of the spirit.

Behind the house, beyond a wide lawn, Guillaume Mallet designed and planted a vast area,[4] which stretches down to the sea cliffs, with a maze of winding paths through a dense woodland of native and exotic trees, sheltering an understorey of rhododendrons and azaleas, hydrangeas, Japanese maples, camellias and magnolias.

The inheritance laws of the Code Napoléon meant that ownership was legally divided between 11 people (descendants of the original owners), and in the next generation there would have been many more.