Bénéhard Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Overlooking the Veuve valley, at Chahaignes in the south of the Sarthe department, Bénéhard Castle, formerly spelt Benehart, succeeded a medieval fortress that guarded this passage. Between 1518 and 1560, Jacques II de Maillé-Bénéhart and his wife Marie de Villebresme rebuilt it in the style of the early Renaissance; in the 17th century, Henri I de Maillé-Bénéhart remodelled it and gave it its definitive appearance. The façade, built in tuffeau stone beneath a slate roof, is organised around a central three-sided tower and ornate dormer windows, complemented by 17th-century windows. Eighteenth-century terraced gardens descend towards the valley, and the estate retains 15th- and 16th-century outbuildings, a restored wine press, a bread oven, a lavoir cut into the rock and a mill. The castle, its pavilion, its service buildings, its gardens and its outbuildings have been listed as monuments historiques since 11 August 1987, within a site listed since 1946. Since 2015 it has belonged to the artist Bruce de Jaham.