Domaine de Brandois hosts study days, residential seminars, company evenings, weddings and private receptions for up to 200 guests, with 38 bedrooms on site. The château or other parts of the estate can be hired exclusively, with or without accommodation. The estate lies at La Forêt in Les Achards, Vendée, in a wooded park of about 20 hectares.
Seminars and company events
Three formats are sold. The study day runs from 8 am to 6 pm with a meeting room, welcome coffee, two breaks and a two-course lunch. The residential seminar adds a dinner or cocktail, a night in a room at Le Prieuré or the château, and breakfast. The company evening runs from 4 pm to 9 am the next day with technical equipment included.
Meeting rooms can be set in U-shape, theatre or round tables. Seminar rooms come with a video projector, screen, flipchart and wireless microphone, and evening events add a sound system and lighting. For team building, the estate uses its park and indoor spaces and gives a list of vetted local providers that clients may choose freely.
Weddings and receptions
The Salle des Amazones hosts the meal and dancing for up to 180 guests. The Salle des Écuyers and its esplanade, facing the château, suit the cocktail and vin d'honneur. Ceremonies can be held in the park, along its avenue, in the forest or in a clearing. The estate does not impose suppliers and recommends local partners: caterer, florist, photographer, hairdresser and DJ.
Rooms and capacities
The Salle des Amazones, added in 2014, is a single room of about 230 m² for up to 180 people, with access to a caterer's kitchen. Le Prieuré and its esplanade hold up to 75 people indoors across three rooms of 40 to 110 m², also with a caterer's kitchen and a terrace. The château houses the restaurant La Cantine, with 85 covers. Round tables for 8, 10 or 12, rectangular tables and chairs are supplied, along with an unheated outdoor pool that comes with the Amazones hall from May to September.
Accommodation
The 38 bedrooms provide 88 beds. Thirteen are in the château, twelve in Le Prieuré, including two accessible rooms, and the rest in Le Verger, which serves the Salle des Amazones. Rooms take two to four people, and all have Wi-Fi.
Catering
The restaurant La Cantine, in the château, serves lunch from Monday to Friday and provides breaks and lunches for study days and residential seminars. For company evenings and weddings, a caterer of your choice works from the caterer's kitchens of the Prieuré or the Amazones hall.
History and setting
Baron Jean Foucher de Brandois commissioned the neo-Gothic Château de La Forêt from the architect Paul Guillerot in 1869. From 1921 the Frères de Saint-Gabriel ran an agricultural school there until 1966, and from 1968 an adult training center took over. A hotel-restaurant opened on May 24, 2006. Since 2021, two partners have run the estate as a private hire venue, and La Cantine opened in 2023.
Getting there
The estate is about 15 minutes from Les Sables-d'Olonne, about one hour from Nantes and under an hour from the Puy du Fou, between Les Sables-d'Olonne and La Roche-sur-Yon. Three private car parks serve the site.
