Manoir de Longeveau can host corporate retreats, seminars and wedding weekends for groups of up to about 200 people, with the whole party sleeping on site. The estate lists a main seminar room for up to 120 delegates in theater style, a smaller meeting room for 18 and a barn that seats up to 200 in an auditorium layout, depending on the season. Manoir de Longeveau stands in the countryside at Pillac, in the Charente, a five-minute drive from Aubeterre-sur-Dronne.
Seminars and company events
The estate sells corporate retreats, conferences and team-building stays. The main seminar room covers 100 square meters and has air conditioning, a projector with digital connections, a sound system, whiteboards and built-in glass boards. It takes 40 delegates around a U-shaped table or 120 in theater style. A smaller meeting room inside the manor house seats up to 18, which suits a board or a leadership team. For a larger plenary, the barn can be set for up to 200 delegates in auditorium style, depending on the time of year. Breakout rooms can be arranged across the properties, and internet access is available throughout the estate.
Between sessions, groups can use the estate's own 9-hole golf course, the tennis courts and the heated pools. The team can also arrange wine tastings and visits in the area.
Weddings and receptions
Longeveau sells wedding weekends rather than single-day receptions: guests stay in the estate's houses for two or three days. The site gives a capacity of up to 180 wedding guests staying on site. Ceremonies can take place under the old walnut tree, at the foot of the dovecote tower or on a fairway of the golf course. Couples who want a religious ceremony can use one of the nearby churches, including the underground church of Aubeterre-sur-Dronne. The couple gets a bridal apartment, L'Appartement, which takes up the first floor of the manor.
Rooms and capacities
The meeting spaces published are the main seminar room (100 square meters, 40 in U-shape, 120 in theater style), the manor meeting room (18) and the barn (up to 200 in auditorium style, seasonal). Outdoor spaces include the 17th-century courtyard, gardens and terraces, used for dinners and receptions.
Accommodation
The estate is a private hamlet of 35 holiday houses set around the manor, from one-bedroom cottages to villas with four en-suite bedrooms for up to 10 guests. Examples include L'Atelier in the manor courtyard, Villa Alexyo, La Vieille Grange, La Salamandre, Le Poulailler and Le Pressoire de Pierre, a former wine barn on a hill. This lets a company or a wedding party keep everyone in one place.
Catering
Longeveau runs its own bar and restaurant with a terrace over the valley. For events, the team offers formal dinners in the courtyard, barbecues, pizza evenings and picnics, with cocktail menus, a pop-up gin bar and drinks packages built on wines from the region.
History and setting
Longeveau began in 1992, when two couples, Lynne and Rick Peacock and Sue and Leo Gammon, bought the estate. Olivia and Richard joined the family business in 2007 and now run it with a permanent team led by an operations director. The manor dates from the 17th century, and the golf course, Golf d'Aubeterre, lies within the grounds.
Getting there
Angoulême station is about 40 minutes by car, with trains from Paris Montparnasse in about 2 hours and from Bordeaux in about 45 minutes. Bergerac airport is about 1 hour 15 minutes away, Bordeaux airport about 1 hour 30 minutes and Limoges about 1 hour 50 minutes. By road, the estate is reached from the A10 and A89 motorways or the N10 and N21.
