The Château de Balleroy !!!

Posted in Europe, France

This is a pleasant road warrior ride in beautiful countryside in the Normandie region,  We had visited many times over the years and always looking forward to be back, eventually, Again, looking in my cd rom vault found me some pictures that need to be in my blog for you and me, This first one is in Balleroy sur Drôme in the dept 14 of Calvados ,the region of Normandie and in my belle France, The town is located 20 km from Saint Lô, 14 km from Bayeux, 34 km from Caen, 266 km from Versailles and 286 km from my current home, It is reach on the D 572 that links Bayeux with Saint-Lô. However, we came on the A13 autoroute de Normandie ,by Caen get on the N13 around Bayeux, get on the D572 to the town.

Let me tell you a bit on the Château de Balleroy in Balleroy-sur-Drôme, I took one of my road warrior swing but memorable ride and wonderful property that needs to be visited more in depth, eventually,Therefore, here is for now my take on the Château de Balleroy !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

The Château de Balleroy was acquired on 1 April 1600 by Jean de Choisy, son of one of the twenty-four wine merchants following the court of Henri IV. The castle was probably built by his son Jean II de Choisy, between 1625 and 1630. Jean II had married a Hurault, great-granddaughter of the Chancellor de L’Hospital, cousin of the Chancellor Hurault de Cheverny, who corresponded among others with Marie de Gonzague, Queen of Poland, the Duchess of Savoy, sister of Louis XIII, Queen Christina of Sweden and various German princesses. The couple was sumptuously housed at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. In 1665, Madame de Choisy, who had become a widow, was exiled to her estate in Balleroy, where she had her furniture and the decor of her apartments transported, which are still a jewel of the château. By letters patent of 1704, the estate of Balleroy was erected into a marquisate for the benefit of her cousin by marriage Jacques de La Cour, advisor to the king. In 1744, Jacques-Claude, second marquis of Balleroy, husband of a Goyon-Matignon, first equerry of the Duke of Orléans then governor of the Duke of Chartres, was exiled there by Louis XV for having taken sides against Madame de Châteauroux, the royal mistress of the time. His two military sons were arrested in Balleroy during the French revolution then condemned and guillotined on March 27, 1794. The estate and the castle were confiscated but in 1795 the countess claimed and obtained her share of the family estate, which she shared in 1806 with her brother Philippe, fourth marquis, who in 1819 had to resell the estate to a marquis de La Londe, mayor of Versailles, with the option of repurchase by his son. This is how in 1827 François or Franz, fifth marquis, husband of Mathilde d’Orglandes, was able to regain possession of it. Until 1970 the family estate remained in the hands of his heirs sold to the American billionaire businessman Malcolm Forbes, director of Forbes magazine. In August 2019, almost twenty years after his father’s death, Christopher Forbes resold it with its furniture to the American entrepreneur Roy Eddleman.

Among its famous occupants, under the Second Empire (Napoléon III), was Count Albert Félix Justin de la Cour de Balleroy, a 19C animal painter and friend of Édouard Manet and the Batignolles group. Empress Eugénie owned one of his works. Commander of the National Guard from 1870 to 1871, that same year he was elected first deputy of Calvados on a list ballot. His son Jacques was the sixth and penultimate Marquis de Balleroy. Marcel Proust visited the château in the company of Paul Helleu and is said to have transposed it into the Château de Guermantes in À la recherche du temps perdu or in search of lost time.

Other things to see here are the Church Saint-Martin de Balleroy ,Jean de Choisy had it built in 1650-1651

The official Château de Balleroy: https://www.chateau-balleroy.fr/en/

The Calvados dept 14 tourist office on the Château de Balleroy: https://www.calvados-tourisme.com/offre/chateau-de-balleroy/

There you go folks, a wonderful road warrior ride in beautiful countryside of beautiful Normandie enjoying its pleasures of always! Worth the detour, me think, a wonderful ride into architecture and history finds. Again, hope you enjoy the post on the Château de Ballerory !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

 

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Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

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