Château de Rochecotte

Château de Rochecotte takes seminars, meetings, team-building days, private lunches and dinners, and weddings, with 37 bedrooms, suites and apartments on site so that a group can stay where it works. The château stands above the Loire at Saint-Patrice, in the commune of Coteaux-sur-Loire, between Tours and Saumur.

Seminars and company events

The hotel sells professional events: seminars, meetings and team-building. Its event spaces are described as flexible and can be arranged to suit the format, from a board meeting to a working day followed by dinner. Because the house is a hotel with its own kitchen, a residential seminar can run on a single site: plenary in the morning, lunch in the restaurant, an afternoon in the park and the evening around the table. The official site does not publish room names or capacities, so ask for the floor plan and the figures by layout when you send your request.

Weddings and receptions

Weddings are part of the offer, as are family lunches and dinners in a private setting. The Italian terrace overlooking the valley and the French-style gardens give room for a drinks reception outside in the warmer months, and guests can stay in the château's bedrooms the same night.

Accommodation

There are 37 rooms, suites and apartments, looking out over the park or the gardens. Guests have a heated outdoor pool in the warmer season, and massages can be booked, including for two. For most groups, this means the whole party can be housed on site.

Catering

Meals are served by the château's own gastronomic restaurant, which carries the Maître Restaurateur title. Tea time and a brunch are also offered. For a seminar, this covers the working lunch and the evening dinner without an outside caterer.

History and setting

Rochecotte began as a fortified post on its hilltop during the Hundred Years' War, watching English troop movements in the valley. The Guillon de Rochecotte family acquired it in 1767. In 1828 Dorothée, Duchesse de Dino, bought the estate and turned it into an Italian-style villa with columns, pergolas and parterres. Talleyrand, her husband's uncle, was a regular guest. In 1839 she gave the château to her daughter Pauline on her marriage to the Marquis Henri de Castellane, and in 1890 Antoine de Castellane built the royal stables. From 1934 Emilio Terry spent thirty-five years restoring and decorating the house. In 1940 archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were evacuated here. After the estate was broken up in 1978, the Pasquier family bought the empty château in 1984 and turned it into a hotel. Today the building is a long main block with a central pediment between two square pavilions, set in a 25-hectare park with a forest.

Getting there

The château is 35 minutes by road from Tours and from Saumur, 15 minutes from the A85 motorway and about three hours from Paris. The nearest station is Saint-Patrice, on the line between Tours and Saumur, and the hotel can arrange transfers from it on request. Langeais, Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau and Ussé are close by, as are the Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil vineyards, which give options for a visit or a tasting during a seminar.