The fief of Balleroy, near the forest and abbey of Cerisy, was acquired on April 1, 1600 by Jean de Choisy, wine supplier at the court of Henry IV.

The unknown architect, who had already drafted the plans of the château de Berny, a remodeled dwelling for chancellor Pierre Brûlart de Sillery (1624-1625), came frequently to Balleroy from 1632 to 1634 and consigned the old plans of the former castle and village, that were shifted and laid around a main axis to enable a view on road, avenue or honorary path, moderate slope, cour d'honneur framed by two square, long, low, common pavillons, covering floors of boxwood scrollwork, and a terrace surrounded by a balustrade.

[3] Built in bricks, schist and pierre de Caen, the castle has a central pavillon topped by a roof lantern flanked by two lower buildings.

The jardin à la française is made up of low boxwood hedges and a flanked terrasse of two pavillons.

[5] The most well-known of the family is Francois-Timoléon (1644-1724), 4th and last son of Jean III de Choisy, travestied by his mother when young — until the age of 18 —, to court Anne of Austria and introduce him to the entourage of her younger son, Philippe of Orléans, of which he became a young gaming companion; as an abbot, he left famous Mémoires pour servir l'histoire de Louis XIV (1737); he was sent as an ambassador to the King of Siam in view of a conversion to Catholicism; in 1698, he sold Balleroy to the princesse d'Harcourt, born Françoise de Blacas.