Hardly accessible to the public from the 1980s until 2019, the Domaine de Dampierre is preparing for a new era. On March 23, this treasure of the Vallée de Chevreuse (Yvelines) will finally open its gardens and forest park to the public all year round, with free admission for under-18s.
Pascal and his team have been working under the direction of the new owner since 2019, coordinating the various stages of restoration projects and works on the 400-hectare estate. Comprising outdoor spaces, including 80 hectares of gardens open to the public, the estate boasts a main château dating back to the second half of the 17th century, as well as a number of different areas (19th-century Natural History Museum, etc.) of heritage and history to be promoted and passed on to the general public in the Paris region, nationally and soon internationally.
"We need to showcase our heritage via the exteriors alone, until at least 2025, when the interior Château will be renovated. To achieve this, we know that the Impact of Sortir à Paris is important: We had an event attended by 2,500 people: many of the visitors came for what was indicated on the Sortir à Paris article. That's when we measured the impact of your article: our program on the poster was different from the photos that My (our journalist, editor's note) had broadcast on the article: visitors had come to see that!"
"Mr. Mulliez bought the Auberge du Château, which is opposite the château. The restaurant was reopened in May 2023, to welcome our chef Elisabeth Passédat, and we carried out hotel work to open the 15 rooms essential to the development of our seminar business.
"She started in May 2023 and was contacted on several occasions by various media. She recalled the experience of being "tricked" by an advertorial (a media specializing in gardening and decoration) into publishing an insert, thinking it was another well-known title: the innkeeper paid 700 euros for nothing in terms of footfall."
"Again this year, the inn's manager was contacted by a major national TV channel, offering photos and videos for several thousand euros, under the guise of producing an "article", for supposed publication on their site, again with no repercussions in terms of footfall."
"Our basic visitors are really from the Paris region (78 and 91). And when we have an article from Sortir à Paris, our visitors come from further afield. Thanks to Sortir à Paris, we have a much wider audience in terms of geographic openness."
A team led by Pascal (General Manager):
"I knew Dampierre by name, as part of Culture and Art History, without having visited it. I was recruited via a project description, without being told who or where. And, in the exchange, I guessed it was the Château de Dampierre. At the time, I was at Château de Chambord, in the buildings and gardens department. I arrived here in January 2019, with a desire to develop the pure operation. I didn't know the Chevreuse Valley very well."
... completed by Vanessa (Public Relations Manager), Célia and Malvina:
"I'm from the Vallée de Chevreuse, I've always lived either in St-Quentin or in the Vallée de Chevreuse: I worked at the Château de Breteuil, which is 5km from here, and 8 years in the civil service, on the other side of the valley's Regional Nature Park, in the town hall of Montfort-L'Amaury: mediation, guides, heritage promotion I did a master's degree in history, and I'm passionate about the region: I knew about Dampierre, but like Pascal, I'd never been inside, because these were really exclusive tours, organized for groups. We'd mostly heard about the Christie's sale of the library, or the presidential commercial hunts, in the region."
"The arrival of Mr. Mulliez broke the lock on the Domaine: he might have wanted to privatize the whole thing, but did quite the opposite. It's one of the biggest projects ever for a building that's private, but open to the public, and geared towards welcoming the general public."
"The team is completed by Célia, Vanessa's assistant, who looks after tourism development and conferences and seminars, our function rooms. And Malvina is our sales apprentice. Outside, we have our maintenance staff and a steward, plus the stores, the equestrian center: a guide for the carriage driving, a driver, a groom... And a whole world of ponies, sheep and oxen in coastal pastures..."
Openingto the public and democratizing culture and heritage: the Domaine's raison d'être
The first opening dates from 2019: the owner bought the property from the de Luygnes family in 2018. With time to install the infrastructure, the opening took place at the end of March 2019. As Pascal explains: "When I arrived in 2019, I thought Dampierre was still well known, as it was in all the tourist guides. In the 1980s, the Famille de Luygnes closed its doors, on the date of the Duke's death. It was a family property that didn't last in tourist terms."
"Mr.Mulliez (the owner) believes that his work is togive back part of his fortune to restore Dampierre so that future generations can benefit from it: so he wants the public subsidies that exist to go to more precarious owners (editor's note, the Domaine therefore receives no subsidies for its operation) .France's heritage is fragile, and owners often can't keep up. We have received indirect aid from the Conseil Départemental for the installation of directional signs and indications of the Châteaux de la Vallée de Chevreuse, and the construction of a traffic circle to secure the entrance to our parking lot, but also useful for the villagers with the securing of a crossroads in the heart of the village."
Restoring and preserving heritage: Dampierre, a treasure trove for heritage lovers
Vanessa adds: "The owner bought Dampierre to restore it, to exhibit his collection, and above all to welcome the public: he's happy when it's busy and lively! Sometimes he's present during visits, he listens without introducing himself, it's a pleasure for him to share this. Dampierre needs to get moving and wake up, and we' re doing everything we can to make that happen.
"It's (the owner's) passions that guide him: the collection of works of art that will be exhibited in the château, the collection of carriages in a possible Musée de l'Attelage. Mr. Mulliez's collection therefore comprises all the furniture and works of art that will be displayed in the château. They were recently previewed to some fifteen curators who were delighted to see them, and to know that these objects have been preserved in France and not sent abroad, but are visible to the French public: we have loaned 16th century porcelain to the Louvre, a work by Hyacinthe Rigaud for an exhibition at the Château de Versailles, and a Boulle desk to the Château de Chantilly for a future exhibition on this great royal cabinetmaker. The loan of these works is a way of publicizing Mr. Mulliez's collection and encouraging people to visit the interior of the château, which will be completely renovated in 2025. This will be complemented by a temporary exhibition program in winter."
One estate, multiple possibilities to benefit as many people as possible
"From March 23, 2024, we will open all year round, with free admission for under-18s. Visitors will be able to access the gardens, for a leisure destination: we welcome families after Sunday lunch, grandparents with their grandchildren, retirees and senior citizens during the week. Our flagship activity is a guided carriage ride, which reflects the owner's passion for horse-drawn carriages. We offer this because the walking tour covers 80 hectares, but the estate's total area is 400 hectares. On this tour, we take the horse-drawn carriage into the forest part of the estate, which is closed to the public, where there are wild animals such as fallow deer and wild boar. Visitors can then explore the 90-hectare estate by electric car, pedal-powered rosalie or rowing boat. We've created discovery paths, trails, playgrounds and picnic areas, and even a small farm. The latest project is the animal trail, with three observatories that will enable visitors to get up close to the wild animals of the forest on the edge of the 400 hectares."
"On the 90 hectares, 1500 people can't be seen, everyone has their own space. The surface area and volume of the gardens is comparable to that of Vaux-le-Vicomte, with the same spirit of grand perspective and small copses and nooks. This is also a château dating from the second half of the 17th century, a very large château and an influential family in French history; kings such as Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette came here. Great royal festivals have been held at Dampierre, and historically, it's an important piece of art and architectural history... "
"In 2025, the main château will be completely renovated. The formal gardens will also be renovated. In any case, we want to develop the Destination Vallée de Chevreuse entity, with the hotel opposite and a lot of dynamism in the tourism offer all around."
Public and visitors
"At the moment, 50% of our visitors are from Yvelines, and 40% from Essonne, who are looking for cultural outings and châteaux. We have a few from Paris or 95, or 28. It's very regional, and we need to keep working on the Yvelines as well as the Essonne: the catchment area is enormous, with the St-Quentin conurbation representing 500,000 inhabitants (Montigny, Trappes, Guyancourt...). "
"For the development of the public on a national and international level it will be once the gardens are completed and the château interiors are renovated and open: foreign visitors find it hard to understand the notion of Domaine: it's particular, a park of 14km of walls, forest park, garden a heterogeneous whole but which forms the uniformity of the Domaine. We've played on the notion of Domaine in that sense, but we may change our communication to focus on the château at that point."
"In terms of visitor numbers, we started at 2,000 visitors in 2019, and we're at almost 60,000 in 2023. What's interesting is that we didn't have any Salons-type events this year, which we had in 2019, because we won't be able to host them anymore with the renovation of the gardens. Our 60,000 are consolidated with the region, so that's great. And the Parisians are now coming with bike tourism: we'll be fitting out everything to welcome the public. In 2024, we'll open the château to guided tours before its restoration, and in 2025 the restoration of the gardens will be completed, along with the water fountains, followed by the opening of the château under renovation."
Interview with Sortir à Paris journalists: an impact on attendance, but also on the diversity of the public
"We know that Sortir à Paris has a major impact: My (our journalist editor's note) came two years ago for the Night of the Castles. At the time, she took photos of the event for an article, the impact of which we didn't measure at the time. This year, your journalist used last year's images, but it wasn't exactly the same program as we'd planned. We had an event for 2,500 people: that's when we measured the impact of your article. The people who came came for what was indicated in the Sortir à Paris article . Our program was different from the photos that My had circulated in the article."
" Most of our visitors are usually from the Paris region (78 and 91). And when we have an article from Sortir à Paris, our visitors come from further afield, as we saw for Easter and the Nuit des Châteaux: we wonder where this public is coming from, who's looking for what to do in this area on this date. Thanks to Sortir à Paris, we have a much wider audience in terms of geographical reach."
Communication and attendance
"Mr. Mulliez bought the Auberge du Château, which is opposite the château. The restaurant was reopened in May 2023, to welcome our chef Elisabeth Passédat, and we carried out hotel work to open the 15 rooms essential to the development of our seminar business."
"She was starting in May 2023 and was contacted on several occasions by several media outlets. She recalled the experience of being "duped" by an advertorial (a media specializing in gardening and decoration) for the publication of an insert, thinking it was another well-known title: the innkeeper paid 700 euros to earn her nothing in terms of footfall."
"Again this year, the inn's manager was contacted by a major national TV channel, offering photos and videos for several thousand euros, under the guise of producing an "article", for supposed publication on their site, again with no repercussions in terms of footfall".
The ambition and values of the team and the founder, for the Domaine and the Château
"We want to open up culture and history to everyone, without relying on the interior of the château, which is still being renovated, but rather on simple things: seeing nature, for Parisian children, making a herbarium, being able to breathe, simply seeing the farmyard animals. We now know the richness of the Fauna and Flora of the Estate, because with the numerous works, many biodiversity studies have been carried out."
"An immersive tour of the château is available online, inspired during the confinement of virtual tours of real estate: someone made it by accompanying the speech with (Pascal's) own representation (of) the tour in the current state of the château undergoing work: this is what makes the possibility of a virtual tour possible.
"But we don'twant to develop augmented reality visits: the visit only allows you to be fixed on the tablet without looking at reality versus our ambition which is to be able to de-connect, with a guide as a person for schoolchildren for example."
Reopening the gates of the Domaine and Château to all on March 23, even with a little more work to do
"For the reopening, we're stressing the youth aspect, with free admission for under-18s: we want teenagers to come, without screens or immersion devices, but it's the owner's desire to ensure access to culture and heritage for as many people as possible, and then that must be passed on to the younger generations."
"We're not ashamed of the work we're doing, because we're saving our heritage. Our ambition is to present the château as such, under restoration, with work to discover. During previous refurbishments, the Compagnons (du devoir ed., communities of excellence in know-how each craft) were happy to share with the public their know-how, the processes of renovation and the worksite, to get there: the wood, the slates... At each level, masonry, carpentry, roofers, the matériauthèque."
"We have a loyal following who like to see how the work is progressing via a little blog (Le Chantier de Dampierre) that I keep up to date. I was a little two months 'late' without publishing, and people make comments directly via social networks to ask for news of the work, the building sites: we communicate directly on instagram on a personal basis where I post news of the château."
"To get these people involved, we crowdfunded for the restoration of the main gate: donations ranged from 10 to 500 euros, and all donors will have, regardless of the amount, their names at the foot of the gate: this is what will be laid for the opening at the end of March, on March 23!"
And after the reopening, an exciting program to celebrate Easter at the Domaine.
Vanessa: "For Easter, we're focusing on the Cloche de Dampierre: with an activity above all, and an egg at the end. We wanted it to have a General Culture and Curiosity of Mind dimension, to be a bit fun and educational so that we could have a gift at the end."
Pascal: "We found an old bell dating back to 1795 in the attic: a comedian will be on hand over the 3 days to entertain the public, and we'll have a trail to unveil these new spaces. The route will include a clue game to find the real historic bell and be able to ring it with a mallet, and collect, of course, a chocolate at the end."
Discover original articles from Sortir à Paris
Heritage Days 2023: discover Domaine de Dampierre and its restoration secrets
For the Journées du Patrimoine 2023, the Domaine de Dampierre-en-Yvelines welcomes us for a weekend of events and walks. On September 16 and 17, the estate will be showcasing the exceptional restoration work carried out by the Compagnons, enabling us to visit this estate that has welcomed so many kings and queens as it did in the 17th century. [Read more]
Domaine du Château de Dampierre-en-Yvelines is now open all year round. There will be no more winter closures. A host of new features await you, including some great events, the opening of guided tours of the château and free admission for under-18s. [Read more]
Official website
www.domaine-dampierre.com
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Booking
www.domaine-dampierre.com
Heritage Days 2023: discover Domaine de Dampierre and its restoration secrets
Domaine du Château de Dampierre en Yvelines open and free to under-18s
