Château de Breteuil

The Château de Breteuil runs study days for 10 to 100 participants, committee meetings of up to 24 and receptions of up to 150 in its orangery, and it also hosts weddings and private dinners. The château, at Choisel in the Vallée de Chevreuse, is about 35 km from Paris and has belonged to the same family for more than 400 years.

Seminars and company events

The turnkey study day includes a welcome breakfast, lunch at the Café d'Achille, the use of working spaces and access to the gardens and park. For a board or management committee, the meeting room of the Café d'Achille, in the former pheasantry, seats up to 24. Larger groups work in the orangery or in the château salons, where projection and sound systems and paperboards are available. Cocktails and corporate evenings can follow the working day. Activities include a guided visit of the château and gardens, the 1900 escape game, a murder party, a perfume-making workshop and a photography workshop. The estate also takes conferences, product launches and company Christmas events.

Weddings and receptions

Weddings take exclusive use of the reception spaces, with the château salons and the orangery as the main settings. The estate also offers formal dinners in the château for guests or colleagues. Visits of the salons before booking are arranged by appointment with the château administration.

Rooms and capacities

The Orangerie is a bright room for up to 150 people, with a private terrace over the gardens and the labyrinth. On the ground floor of the château, an enfilade of reception rooms, including the Grande Galerie, the Salon Empire and the Salon Doré, can be booked separately or together. Their 18th and 19th-century decor stays in place and the layout adapts to the group. The Café d'Achille meeting room seats 24. Capacities of the salons are not published.

Accommodation

One apartment can be rented on the first floor of a pavilion in the main courtyard. It has a living room with a kitchenette, three bedrooms and three bathrooms, and its guests have access to the château, gardens and park. For larger groups, rooms must be found in the surrounding towns.

Catering

The Café d'Achille serves breaks and lunches for groups of up to 30. Larger events are catered by outside caterers selected by the château.

History and setting

The family presents the estate as a storyteller since 1610, and the château is still run by its descendants, today François and Pauline de Breteuil. Louis de Breteuil was a close friend of Charles Perrault, and scenes from Perrault's tales are staged in the château in memory of that friendship. Other family members shown on the visit include Louis-Auguste, Gabrielle Emilie, Charles and Henri. The 75-hectare park includes formal French gardens, the Jardin des Princes, a labyrinth, a walk of remarkable trees and romantic ponds. The château is a historic monument, the gardens carry the Jardin Remarquable label, and the estate sits in the Parc naturel régional de la Haute Vallée de Chevreuse.

Getting there

The address is Le château de Breteuil, 78460 Choisel, in the Yvelines. Paris is about 35 km away by road. The nearest rail link is the RER B at Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, a short taxi ride from the château. The administration answers by phone from Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:00, and replies to written requests within two working days.