Château de Bournel

Seminars, study days, team-building programmes and weddings for up to 150 seated guests can be organised at Château de Bournel, in Cubry, in the Doubs countryside of Franche-Comté. The estate, run as the Domaine de Bournel, has a plenary room for 150, three smaller rooms, a hotel of 16 bedrooms, a restaurant and an 18-hole golf course in a 60-hectare park.

Seminars and company events

The estate sells half-day and full-day study packages, and seminars with team building all year round, by reservation. Every event has a dedicated project manager. Meals follow the programme, from breakfast and coffee breaks to lunch, afternoon snack, aperitif and dinner, all prepared on site by the chef, with a vegetarian option in each formula. Activities include yoga, hiking, tennis, mountain biking, escape games, candle making, wine tasting, photo and video challenges, wild foraging and an introduction to golf. Wellness sessions run with partners: sound baths with Tibetan bowls, meditation, sophrology, forest bathing and massage. In November, February and March, private bookings require a group of at least 50.

Weddings and receptions

Weddings are organised turnkey, with an in-house planning service. The ceremony takes place in the grounds of the château, the vin d'honneur in the courtyard of the 18th-century château, and dinner and dancing in a vaulted hall that opens onto a large shaded terrace. Reception salons take over in autumn and winter. Couples can use the estate's partners for flowers, decoration, hair and make-up, photography, music and fireworks, or bring their own suppliers. A brunch can follow the next day, and the whole hotel can be reserved for the wedding party.

Rooms and capacities

The plenary room covers 150 m² with stone walls and exposed beams, and seats 150. The Arcades room, 90 m² under vaulted ceilings with large windows, seats 50. The Rubis room, 60 m² in the 18th-century château, seats about 30. Two independent rooms of 15 and 25 m² suit private meetings and small workshops. The estate has secure parking and an inner courtyard.

Accommodation

The hotel has 16 rooms around the château courtyard, each with a private bathroom and television: eight doubles, four twins, two prestige suites and two family suites for three or four people. Breakfast is a continental buffet served in the restaurant.

Catering

The restaurant, La Brasserie, cooks regional produce from the estate's kitchen garden and from nearby farms. A group menu is available on request, and the bar opens outside the winter months.

History and setting

The Moustier family has held Bournel since 1496. The old château was built around 1735 at the wish of Louise de Bournel, who gave the estate its name. Around 1860, Léonel de Moustier, foreign minister under Napoleon III, commissioned a new neo-Gothic château from Clément Parent, a pupil of Viollet-le-Duc, which his son Pierre-René completed. The old château later became a model farm and then a hotel-restaurant, and the golf course was laid out in the English-style park, with views of the Vosges. After some 20 years of closure, Gaspard and Ilaria de Moustier restored the estate from 2020 and reopened it for guests and events.

Getting there

The estate lies between Vesoul and Besançon, about 45 minutes from the nearest railway station, an hour from the Swiss border and about an hour and a half from the airport.