Informations pratique

Access

Château du Champ de Bataille

27110 Le Neubourg

From Paris : 115km on the A13, exit n^o 18 Louviers
From Deauville: 85km on the A13, exit n^o 25 Bourg Achard
From Evreux: 20km on the N13
 
Nearest train station: Evreux (20km)

Contact

Property Owner : Jacques Garcia

Tel. : 02 32 34 84 34

Fax : 02 32 35 18 38

chateau@duchampdebataille.com

Services & opening times

The gardens are open from Easter (22^nd March) to All Saints Day (1^st November)

• Weekends and public holidays from 2pm until 6pm
• Every day in May, June and September from 2pm until 6pm
• Every day in July and August from 10am until 6pm
• Visit with garden plan and explanatory text
• 80% of the gardens are accessible to wheelchair users

The château is open from Easter (22^nd March) to All Saints Day (1^st November)

• Weekends and public holidays from 3.30pm until 5.30pm
• Every day in July and August from 3.30pm until 5.30pm
• Visit with audio-guide in French or English

The Château and gardens are open for group visits

• All year round from 9am until 6pm
• Reservation necessary
• Minimum group size of 20 persons
• Possibility to visit the private apartments
• Possibility to purchase Jacques Garcia products (books, candles, perfumes...)
• Tea Rooms
• Car parking facilities

Visites Virtuelles

Champs de Bataille

Classified Historical Monument, Remarkable Garden Label

Jean de La Varende once wrote about Champ de Bataille « This is the realm of opulence. The decor is secondary to the declaration of power. » It’s this grandeur that inspired me to buy the property in 1992. The ravages of time had only very slightly affected this architectural oeuvre which has always been considered as a masterpiece of the baroque style, and which has been attributed to Le Vau, without formal proof, certainly, but with powerful evidence.

Concerning the interior, apart from the magnificent staircase, only two rooms had been saved from ruin, the upper entrance hall and the « salon de compagnie »(reception room). Despite the degradation caused by time, their extraordinary volume and the vestiges of their richness provided me with the inspiration I needed to reinvent the palatial decoration of the Grand Apartments. I was thus able to correctly display the furniture and the objects that had been acquired over a long period of time. Most of them are pieces from Royal collections that had been dispersed during the Revolution.

The same principle of grandeur guided me when I recreated from scratch the gardens which had once evidently been sumptuous, but completely lost over time, even down to the last traces.

One solitary document had escaped oblivion, a sketch by the hand of a great landscape artist, possibly Le Nôtre himself. This document designated the layout of some of the elements from the period which we have scrupulously reconstituted. These elements, along with my ardent desire to rediscover the antique source, gave the measurements and the inspiration for the new gardens, produced by Patrick Pottier.

We set out with the aim to create a contemporary work of art in spirit but one which would remain timeless in its main lines. « The inspiration of the moment expressed by classic forms », such is the directing principle of this modern park, harmoniously blossoming in a classic, one might even say Roman setting.

Thus it is that the interior and exterior decors of Champ de Bataille took body and form, where the visitor can rediscover that lost feeling of atmosphere. Make it big and aim for the top: my perpetual ambition has found its absolute definition at Champ de Bataille, and I would gladly claim Daniel Boulanger’s saying for my own: « To embellish is to escape from the mediocre, to lift oneself up and out of the body. I believe in the sonnet, in the cantata, in the sixtine ».

Jacques Garcia

Events

• Friday 6^th and Saturday 7^th June 2008: Open Air Opera

   
  « Les Contes d'Hoffmann » by Jacques Offenbach

  Produced by Julie Depardieu and Stephan Druet
  Musical Director: Philippe Hui
  Scenery by Guy-Claude François
  Costumes by Franck Sorbier
   
  Opera begins at 9.30pm
  Prices: 42, 52, 62 euros
  Information and ticket reservation: 0033 892 707 920
  The gardens will be open the 6^th and 7^th June at 2pm
  The château will be open at 5pm on Friday 6th June and at 4pm on Saturday 7^th June

• Saturday 20^th and Sunday 21^st September 2008: National Heritage Days (Journées du Patrimoine)

   
  Exceptionally the castle and the gardens will be open from 10am to 6pm
  Opening of the Private Apartments in the presence of Jacques Garcia
  Treasure Hunt in the gardens