Château de Chambiers hosts seminars, congresses, strategy meetings, festivals, private parties and weddings. Its largest room, La Galerie, seats up to 236 guests and takes 400 for a cocktail; an artists' workshop and the château's historic salons serve smaller groups, and 57 beds on the estate let a group stay on site. The family château is run by its owners, Anne and Elie Crouan, at 2147 route de Chambiers in Durtal, in the Maine-et-Loire department between the Loire and Loir valleys.
Seminars and company events
The estate offers companies one contact for the whole event, rooms laid out to their brief, a complete package and accommodation, with the option of privatizing the property. The owners count five rooms and salons from 30 to 250 square meters. La Galerie suits plenary sessions and large gatherings. The historic salons of the château, each for 15 people, are reserved for small working groups such as executive committees and confidential meetings.
Rooms are equipped with tables, chairs, a projector, a screen and a paperboard, with more on quote. The team can theme an event and helps design team activities. The forest that surrounds the park gives 200 hectares of walks and trails for outdoor sessions.
Weddings and receptions
The owners have hosted 292 weddings over 14 years. Couples can privatize the estate for the weekend. Cocktails and secular ceremonies take place in the park and gardens, and dinner is served in La Galerie for up to 225 seated guests, or in the woods under strings of lights. The Pavillon de France suite is reserved for the couple's wedding night, and guests stay in the château rooms and the gîtes. Family reunions and private celebrations are booked the same way, whether for a large group or a few people.
Rooms and capacities
La Galerie covers 355 square meters. Its 17th-century timber frame rests on white stone pillars, and its glazed walls open onto the park. It seats up to 236 guests and takes 400 in a cocktail layout.
L'Atelier d'Artistes, next to the gîtes, takes up to 30 people and has its own inner courtyard, with the gardens close by.
The historic salons of the château each take 15 people, for board meetings and small private events.
Accommodation
The estate counts 57 beds in total. In the château, five guest rooms named Caroline, Pierre Loti, Camp du Drap d'Or, Saint-Hubert and Bonne Maman sleep two or three each, with a separate romantic apartment. The Pavillon de France is a suite for two at the edge of the park. Three gîtes complete the offer: L'Orangerie, a 140 square meter house for 10; Le Chêne, extending it with three rooms and 16 beds; and the Maison du Jardinier, 115 square meters for nine. The château rooms close in winter, while the gîtes and the suite stay open all year. A pool is available to guests.
Catering
The owners cook the table d'hôtes dinners themselves, with seasonal and local produce, vegetables from the estate garden and an Anjou wine bottled under the château's name. Breakfasts and picnic baskets are prepared in-house, and cooking and wine classes are offered. The site does not say who caters large events; ask the owners.
History and setting
More than a century ago, Count Marc des Courtis, grandfather of the current family, bought Chambiers after a career at sea. He ran it as a model estate of nearly 1,000 hectares, with farms, orchards and pine forests tapped for resin. Today a 40-hectare park surrounds the château, reached by a drive lined with hornbeams and rhododendrons.
Getting there
Angers TGV station is 30 minutes away, putting Paris about 1 hour 30 by train. Le Mans and Sablé-sur-Sarthe stations are also nearby. The A11 is 5 minutes away, Nantes 75 minutes, and the closest airports are Angers-Loire, Tours and Nantes-Atlantique.
