This former ‘royal court’, which became a ‘national court’ after the French Revolution, is now a private enclave in very close proximity to Bellême’s main square. Two houses occupy this plot. One boasts 16th-century origins, while the other dates from the Directoire period, whose history is well documented. The second, east-west facing house is entirely built over vaulted cellars and boasts three storeys, the last of which is beneath the rafters. The lime rendered walls are topped by a roof made of local flat tiles which is punctuated by dormers and chimney stacks. The window frames as well as the cornice are made of blocks of white ashlar. The windows are fitted with painted shutters. The walled north-south oriented garden can be reached through the entrance porch, is rectangular in shape and has two different levels. Opposite the house, there is an orangery with canted walls and wide windows. An outbuilding stands perpendicularly to the orangery and is used as a garage, log store and workshop. The property is completed by a separate guests’ house that can be reached from the square.

The manor house

The garden-level floor
After entering through the porch gate from the square and crossing the inner courtyard, the double-leaf entrance door opens into a Directoire period style vestibule. It leads, to the right, into the lounge and, to the left, to the stairwell and then the kitchen, with the dining room opposite. All these rooms can be reached through double-leaf doors. The ceiling height is 3.20 metres and the floor is paved with period terracotta tiles and taco tiling, except in the lounge where there is oakwood stripped flooring with marquetry patterns. The lounge faces east onto the garden and is bathed in light through two windows with interior shutters. It also possesses a marble fireplace topped by an overmantel. Light streams into the rectangular dining room through two west-facing windows, while a wood burning stove stands in an alcove. The fitted kitchen boasts a fireplace and two west-facing windows as well as a door to the outside.
The first floor
At the top of the half-turn oakwood staircase, the landing opens onto a large hallway and successively leads to a bedroom with an en suite shower room and separate lavatory, an office and another bedroom with an en suite bathroom and lavatory. The bedrooms and office boast wood stripped flooring, are generously bathed in light through two windows and possess a fireplace. The office could quite easily be transformed into an extra bedroom.
The second floor
The central corridor on this level leads to five bedrooms on either side. One of the bedrooms boasts an en suite bathroom and a lavatory, while another is adjacent to an office. A shower room and a lavatory complete this level. Light pours into all the rooms through west or east facing dormer windows.
The basement
Beneath the entire surface of the house, there are three large, vaulted cellars with high ceilings. One is used as the boiler room and laundry room, while a second serves as a storeroom.
Le studio
The studio
This separate studio adjacent to the main house can be reached from the square. On the ground floor, it is made up of a living room with a kitchen area and upstairs there is a bedroom, a shower room as well as a lavatory.