Seminars, conferences, team building days, weddings and gala dinners can be organised at the Château de Goulaine for up to 450 guests indoors and up to 2,000 in its gardens. The Renaissance castle stands in Haute-Goulaine, in the Nantes vineyards about 15 minutes south-east of Nantes, and has been a listed historic monument since 1913.
Seminars and company events
The 15th-century main building, the Corps de Logis, has three rooms on the ground floor for workshops and team activities and five salons on the first floor for conferences and general meetings, which can be combined with the ground floor. Wi-Fi, a projector, a sound kit for speeches, cloakrooms and free parking are provided. Team building includes an escape game, a murder party, a sensory trail and a tasting from the Marquis de Goulaine collection. Visits can be guided, self-guided with an audio guide or played as a game. Evenings can take a theme: cabaret, casino, wooden games or a 1980s night.
Weddings and receptions
Private lunches, weddings, anniversaries, garden parties, concerts and gala dinners use the same spaces. The three communicating rooms of the Corps de Logis, with high beamed ceilings, monumental fireplaces and stained glass, seat 20 to 150 and take 220 standing. The château's cellars add a standing space for 150, used for drinks and dancing alongside another room. Furniture on site includes 37 round tables of 152 cm, rectangular and guinguette tables with benches, folding chairs and 28 standing tables. The car park takes 200 cars.
Rooms and capacities
L'Orangerie, about 300 m² in the 17th-century former stables, is the largest room and reopened after two years of renovation, with tall windows and a beamed ceiling. It seats up to 250 and takes 700 standing. The Salon des Tapisseries, 110 m², and the Salon Rouge, 60 m², are booked in addition to another room. The first-floor salons, 55 m² each, take up to 50 per salon. Outside, the cour d'honneur facing the Renaissance logis takes up to 1,000, and the French gardens, shaded by avenues of chestnut trees, up to 2,000.
Catering
Meals are served by partner caterers who cook local, seasonal produce, from a breakfast welcome and coffee breaks to working lunches, cocktail dinners and seated dinners. Breaks use coffee roasted in Nantes, tea blended at Le Landreau, juice from Vertou and pastries from Haute-Goulaine bakers. A caterer's area is provided on site.
History and setting
The Goulaine family's story runs through the house. Gabriel de Goulaine was made a marquis by Louis XIII, and Gabriel II built the old stables that now hold the Orangerie. The castle sits on the edge of the Goulaine marshes, which once fed the estate and served as its waterways, and its history and architecture link Brittany with the Loire Valley. It was restored and opened to the public in the 1980s.
Getting there
Nantes TGV station is about 20 minutes by road and Nantes-Atlantique airport about 25 minutes. The château is 10 minutes from the Nantes ring road on the RN 249 towards Cholet, exit 1.2 Haute-Goulaine, and 15 minutes from the A11. Bus line 331 of the Aléop network stops at Allée du Château, and the Loire à Vélo route is 20 minutes away by bike.
At a glance
What sets it apart
- 01L'Orangerie, about 300 m²: up to 250 seated, 700 standing
- 0215th-century Corps de Logis: three ground-floor rooms, five salons upstairs
- 03Cour d'honneur for 1,000 and French gardens for 2,000
- 0420 minutes from Nantes TGV station, 25 from the airport
- 05Car park for 200, Wi-Fi, projector and sound kit
