The Domaine de Mauprié hosts seminars, study and training days, conferences, team building, product launches, galas and weddings, for up to 150 people theater style, 280 seated for a meal and more than 450 for a cocktail. Events take place in a converted barn with three areas, an adjoining covered hall and a park of more than 15 hectares. The estate is at Mauprié, 2 km from the medieval town of Lusignan, between Poitiers and Niort in the Vienne.
Seminars and company events
For business events the barn works as three spaces: a small lounge, the side aisle and the central nave. Mobile partitions divide the central nave, so a plenary, workshops and a meal area can sit side by side. The central part has a large screen, and tables and chairs are provided. The estate gives 150 people theater style as its capacity for company events.
The covered hall adds a sheltered but open area, and the lawns of the park, about 5 hectares, can take large outdoor public relations events and activities in good weather. Work, catering and leisure can each have their own area, indoors, under cover or outside. A karting track a few kilometers away can host a team race.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings are the estate's main business. The wedding party arrives through the main gate and a lime-tree avenue. Secular ceremonies and drinks receptions usually take place under the hundred-year-old lime trees facing the château, on the lawns or in the barn courtyard. Inside the barn, the central nave holds the head table, round tables and the dance floor; the side aisle takes extra tables for up to 280 seated guests; the independent lounge is often set aside for young children. In the cold season the heated barn takes up to 150 guests, and smaller receptions of up to 80 use the side aisle closed off from the nave. The château's courtyard and interiors stay private. Many summer weddings continue with a brunch or barbecue the next day.
Rooms and capacities
The barn rises 8 meters to the ridge under an oak frame and holds 280 seated or more than 450 standing. Its east wing has the cloakroom, toilets and a 55 square meter equipped caterer's kitchen. The side aisle alone seats 80. The 260 square meter covered hall seats 260 or shelters more than 450 for a cocktail in rain. Tables, chairs and decoration items such as candlesticks can be hired on site, and a lit car park sits next to the barn.
Accommodation
Five recently fitted gîtes sleep about 35 people. Four have three double bedrooms each around a shared living room with a kitchenette; the fifth has four double bedrooms. Glamping lodge tents for two to four people add capacity, with a shared bathroom. Hotels in Lusignan, Coulombiers, Vivonne and Ligugé cover larger groups.
Catering
The estate provides the 55 square meter caterer's kitchen and lets the client bring in their caterer.
History and setting
Mauprié was a fortified manor under the lordship of Lusignan, built as a western outpost of the fortress on the Poitiers to Saintes road, which was also a route to Santiago de Compostela. The moats, towers, a vaulted cellar and 15th-century windows survive. A fire on the night of October 26, 1800 destroyed the main house, leaving the two side wings. A cylindrical dovecote stands at the entrance. The Delaballe family has owned the estate since 1907.
Getting there
From the Lusignan bypass, take the D850 toward Melle and Saintes, then turn left toward the INRA research site at Les Verrines; Mauprié is 2 km on the right.
