BECOME A PATRON OF CHAMPCHEVRIER
AND HELP US PRESERVE OUR HERITAGE
The project: reintegrating the Château de Champchevrier into its environment
Although the château was first opened to the public in 1995 by our parents, who organized visits to the interiors in a rather gradual and confidential way, our ambition today is quite different.
Today, the project is really to reintegrate Champchevrier into its environment: its regional environment, the Loire Valley and the Loire castles, but also its local, rural environment. The château is directly linked to the two villages of Cléré Les Pins and Ambillou by two majestic driveways, whose passage for traffic was granted by the great-grandfather of the current owners.
The layout of the unwalled estate, pierced by roads and paths leading to the countryside, bears witness to this.
Unfortunately, our ancestor's desire to embellish the château also led to major disruptions, which today are detrimental to Champchevrier's vocation and its main entrance.
In fact, the creation of the terrace in the 18th century raised the exterior floors by one storey, and this massive addition of soil created major humidity problems. In the 1970s/80s, in an attempt to curb the problem, our father had very large gravel placed on the terrace, then removed the flowering strip plant along the façade to limit the amount of water needed for watering. Under the supervision of Madame Ramat, a heritage architect, he redid the badly deteriorated rendering in 2011/12. But it has to be said that all this has had no impact on the moisture problems identified.
If we are to reintegrate Champchevrier into its environment, we need to be as radical as our ancestor was in the 18th century. Only then will we be able to create events in this part of the park and make it accessible to visitors, including those with reduced mobility.
The works
With a view to the restoration of the main entrance gate in 2022, the program of works involves restoring the east facade of the 18th-century wing and the chapel, both overlooking the château's main courtyard, with complete resurfacing of the terrace (currently very coarse gravel) and the main courtyard parterre (loose sand) to give them visual continuity and practicality, and to improve public accessibility. This program has two objectives:
1st objective: drainage
What's the problem? On the outside, unsightly rising damp is already threatening the recent rendering. White slicks are appearing on the surface, reflecting the salt content of the water. Worse still, once inside the stone, the salt crystallizes and increases in volume, eventually causing the plaster to shatter and fall off in patches. Indoors: works of art need to be protected by permanently working dehumidifiers. We need to act fast.
How? A drain must be laid along the entire length of the east facade. The height of the drain is unusual, and this is one of the complexities of the job: it's proportional to the height of the buried floor. The drainage pipes will rest on a lime-concrete “cunette”, and will be inserted into a pebble drainage bed: the water will be evacuated towards the moat to the north. The cellar window wells will be restored and fitted with wrought-iron grilles. A 1m strip of limestone gravel will be preserved along the facade and terrace retaining walls, ensuring good soil porosity. Poor water management in the basement has also had consequences in the cellars, where a beam butt is in an advanced state of deterioration. The project calls for its consolidation by grafting. A similar drainage system is planned along the west façade of the chapel overlooking the main courtyard.
2nd objective: accessibility for the public and PRMs
Why should we do this? Today, it's difficult to walk on the rough floor of what should be the noblest access to the château. As a result, it is not used.
How? This drain is an opportunity to rethink and reharmonize these entrances. The external floors of the terrace and parterre paths will be treated with stabilized sand (sand from local quarries in the Loire and/or Loir basin) after stripping. The terrace and the ramps leading to the parterre will be separated by watercourses made of reclaimed limestone paving stones, which will direct rainwater into an underground network leading to infiltration wells. A paved area will be set aside in front of the main gate.
In this way, not only will the public be invited to use this beautiful access to the château for special events, but above all we will become one of the rare châteaux in the Loire Valley to be able to open its entire tour to PRMs: wheelchair users will be able to access the second floor from the outside.
Our heritage architect, Lionel Pereira, has estimated the total cost of the project at €233,874, broken down as follows: exterior fittings (€138,104), masonry/stonework (€83,225), carpentry (€2,172), architect's fees and miscellaneous (€10,373).
The work can be divided into two phases:
Phase 1: renovation and upgrading of the terrace
Phase 2: redevelopment of the main courtyard
Despite the various grants obtained, the budget is not yet complete. Given last year's torrential rains and the risks to the rendering on the façade, we had to start the draining work as a matter of urgency, but the rest of the ground improvement work far exceeds our financing capacity, with €117,552 still to be found: we need your help to use this drainage work, which is very penalizing in terms of nuisance and loss of use, as an opportunity to restore the function and lustre of our main entrance, with the societal ambition of including PRM visitors.
Who are we ?
We are the 11th generation of the same family to live at the Château. In 2017, ownership of the Château passed to a new generation, still descended in direct line from Jean-Baptiste de la Rüe du Can, Baron de Champchevrier.
Together, Laurence, Christophe and Charlotte, we now share the common goal of perpetuating the château that our parents Pierre and Béatrice Bizard had gradually opened to the public from 1995 onwards.
We've made Victor Hugo's phrase our own:
“There are two things in a building: its use and its beauty. Its use belongs to the owner, its beauty to everyone”.
The three of us made the choice to relocate to Champchevrier. A lot has been done in the last few years, but this is by far the most ambitious work we're undertaking, with the aim of renewing ourselves for the 30th anniversary of the house's opening to the public, and the prospect of our family's 300th anniversary at Champchevrier.
How can you help ?
We would like to invite you to help us and become a patron of Champchevrier, so that we can bring this important restoration project to a successful conclusion. A sponsorship agreement signed with Demeure Historique will enable you to benefit from an income tax reduction of 66% of the amount of your donation.
If you pay taxes in France, you will be entitled to an income tax reduction of 66% of the amount of your donation, within a limit of 20% of your taxable income per year. If this limit is overrun, you can defer the surplus over the five subsequent years.
If you reside in Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland or the United Kingdom, you can support the Château de Champchevrier while benefiting from the tax advantages provided by your country's legislation, thanks to the Transnational Giving Europe network. You can contact us for further information.
How to donate when living in the United States ? By being a resident of the United States, you can register your donation under US law (Section 501c of the Federal Tax Code - IRC) and thus benefit from a tax reduction.
The château de Champchevrier maintains close links with the American Friends Fund set up for La Demeure Historique hosted at Myriad USA. Because Because Myriad USA is a public charity, within the meaning of Sections 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1) of the IRC, donors may claim the maximum tax benefits allowed by U.S. tax law for their contributions.
When making a donation online, please add the following note for la Demeure historique : "Through American Friends of la Demeure Historique to Demeure Historique - Château de Champchevrier"
