Valmer Castle

The remains of the neo-Renaissance style complex are among the many châteaux in the Loire Valley and, together with the associated terraced baroque garden, have been listed as a monument historique since 1 May 1930.

Between 1524 and 1529[5] he had the medieval castle that had existed until then extensively changed and made into a more livable residence, and a chapel was hewn into the tuff rock on which the château stands, which was consecrated by the Bishop of Autun on 13 March 1535.

The looters did not hesitate to torture Jean's daughter and burn the soles of her feet in order to get hold of the family's suspected money in a hiding place on the castle grounds.

Jean's descendant, Claude Coustely, sold Valmer on 23 May 1640, to an advisor to Louis XIII, Thomas Bonneau, who made extensive remodeling and additions to the complex.

One known from him is a white marble statue commissioned by from the sculptor Jacques Sarazin, depicting Leda and Zeus (as a swan), and has been in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 1980.

In 1736, the property was up for sale again and was purchased by M. Duvelaer, the commander of the port of Lorient,[7] before being bought ten years later by Nicolas Chaban de La Rivière on 5 July 1746.

He may also have had the tall Doric column in the center of the hornbeam labyrinth, which is still preserved today, and numerous vases placed in the garden.

[9] When Thomas II died in January 1846,[9] his son Jérôme-Charles Valleteau de Chabrefy succeeded him as the owner of the château.

For this purpose, he hired the well-known architect Félix Duban, who had made a name for himself with the restoration of Château de Blois, which had begun four years earlier.

[10] Duban's pupil, Jules Potier de la Morandière, played a much greater role in the remodeling, and numerous alterations were carried out according to his plans in the period from 1855 to 1856.

For example, the old mill located 450 m (1,480 ft) northwest of the château building was demolished in 1855, and in its place, accommodations for the leaseholder of the farmyard and a new barn were built.

[11] On Jérôme-Charles' death in 1874, the estate passed to his three children from his marriage to Marie Amélie de Bonnard: Jérôme, Henriette and Marguerite.

Only seven months after the purchase, Lefèvre hired the architect Léon-Auguste Brey to redesign the northeast façade of the main building, which had remained unchanged until 1889.

In addition, before 1902,[11] the upper floor of the gallery on the northwest side was replaced by a loggia with round arches and Doric columns.

[11] After his death in 1925, the château was occupied by his widow and his daughter Renée and her husband, Adhémar Barré de Saint-Venant, when, on the night of 20 October 1948, a fire broke out in the main building because of a forgotten iron.

The main château stood as an unsecured fire ruin for 20 years before the remains were finally demolished in August 1968.

owners of the château, Aymar de Saint-Venant, a great-grandson of Paul Lefèvre, and his wife Alix, maintain the extensive gardens and have opened them to visitors.

Between the two corner towers on the northwest side stood a two-story gallery building, whose windows on the first floor were framed by pilasters.

The library had a painted wooden beam ceiling and a fireplace that showed a portrait of the French King Henry IV.

The three buildings on the northwestern side of the courtyard were horse stables, accommodations for coachmen and grooms and a wine press.

Other buildings that belonged to the château economy were a dairy, a coach house, a bakehouse, cow and pig stables, sheds and a kennel for the pack of hunting dogs.

The park and garden belonging to the château are completely enclosed by a wall with two round towers on the northwest side.

An approximately 450 metres (1,480 ft)-long[17] avenue planted with horse chestnuts leads from the southwest to the château and opens in a semicircle in front of a large rusticated portal with a lattice gate and a broken triangular gable.

The first runs as an extension of the avenue from southwest to northeast; after the entrance gate it crosses the front terrace flanked by three outbuildings (Terrasse des devants), crosses the almost 15 metres (49 ft)[6] wide dry moat by means of a three-arched stone bridge, to finally end after the Florentine fountains terrace (Terrasse des fontaines florentines) and the former château site in the forest park.

The individual terraces, separated by low walls, brick parapets, and stairs, have names that result from their shape and decoration.

In its center stands a tall, slender column with a vase at its upper end, originally from the Château de Chanteloup.

On the terrace, there are mainly white-flowered plants, such as the rose varieties Avon and Marie Pavié and Myrtofolio cherry laurel.

A double-flight staircase[6] from the 18th century with two large stone lion statues at the top leads to another level, 6 metres (20 ft) lower,[6] where the Anduz Vases Terrace is located.

Another staircase on the west side leads to the kitchen garden,[21] which is located a little lower once again and covers an area of one hectare, where over 900 plants are cultivated, including old and almost forgotten species.

On the bounding west wall of the kitchen garden are two round towers with conical roofs, which today serve as storage facilities.