Château de Fère takes seminars for up to 40 participants in theatre layout and cocktails for 60 in its meeting room, and hosts weddings and galas with exclusive hire of the whole hotel and its 35 rooms and suites. The château hotel stands outside Fère-en-Tardenois, in the Aisne department, next to the ruins of a 13th-century fortress and a Renaissance gallery bridge, inside a forest of 70 hectares.
Seminars and company events
The meeting room, named Louis of Orleans, has daylight. It seats 40 in theatre style, 30 in classroom style, 25 in a horseshoe and 40 at a banquet, and takes 60 standing for a cocktail. It comes with a video projector, a white screen, a microphone and speakers, paperboards and free Wi-Fi.
Activities can fill the rest of the day: visits and tastings in Champagne cellars, a guided tour of the castle ruins, a treasure hunt in the château, an orienteering challenge, a hot-air balloon flight and the tennis court. Bespoke programs are arranged on request, and a residential seminar can use the spa and pools in the evening.
Weddings and receptions
Exclusive hire runs from 3 p.m. until the following morning. It covers the 29 rooms in the château and the six in the adjoining Clos, the three dining rooms, the spa with jacuzzi, sauna and hammam, the gardens, parking, the outdoor pool, the tennis court and the conference room. A marquee, furniture for more than 60 guests, sound equipment and tableware are hired separately. The château suggests a cocktail facing the ruins, live music or a DJ in the park, and extras such as fireworks, a gourmet picnic, hunting horn players, a balloon ride or petal confetti. Wedding planners, photographers and other suppliers come from a list selected by the team.
Rooms and capacities
Besides the Louis of Orleans room, the Fables restaurant is laid out as three successive dining rooms decorated with scenes from La Fontaine's Fables, which can be used as private dining rooms. Its terrace looks onto the park and the ruins. For larger weddings, a marquee in the grounds extends the capacity; the château does not publish a figure for it.
Accommodation
The hotel has 35 rooms and suites, in seven categories in the château and classic rooms in the Clos. The Hana Spa offers Japanese-inspired treatments, with an indoor spa, indoor and outdoor pools and an open-air jacuzzi.
Catering
The château's chef and kitchen brigade handle all catering for meetings and weddings, from seminar lunches to gala dinners and themed gourmet evenings. The wine list holds more than 250 references.
History and setting
Robert de Dreux, grandson of Louis VI, built the fortress between 1206 and 1260. The Valois-Orléans-Angoulême family held it from 1328, and in 1528 Louise de Savoie gave it to Anne de Montmorency, who turned it into a Renaissance residence and had the bridge over the moat built. Designed by Jean Bullant, it has five arches and a double gallery, now partly gone, with decoration credited to Jean Goujon. In 1632 the estate was confiscated, then later returned to Charlotte de Montmorency. Philippe Égalité partly demolished the château, and its contents were auctioned in 1793. The present building dates from 1863 and became a hotel in 1956, among the first French castles to do so.
Getting there
The address is Route du Château, 02130 Fère-en-Tardenois. Paris is about 75 minutes away by car, and the château can arrange private shuttles for guests.
