Restoration of a French Château Left in Ruins. Tour with the New Owner.

We are at Château de l'Erme in Dordogne. I discovered this château in ruins about six years ago. I really liked it. I think it's wonderful, elegant and refined, and it's exactly what I've wanted to do since I was 15 years old. Because in fact, ever since I was 15, I've wanted to restore a medieval or early renaissance monument, one that's built in one go, with no subsequent restoration, and above all, one that's in a splendid setting. And here, we're actually in the middle of the Barad Forest. You can imagine that the environment hasn't changed in 500 years. So my project, and my only project, is to restore this château, and to ensure that this 500-year-old château can be presented to our children and grandchildren for the next five centuries. As for the future use of the château, about which everyone asks me questions, don't worry, I'll know what to do with it. What I'd like to suggest is that you come along with me to discover the château's decor, and that I explain a little about the philosophy behind the restoration. So take a good look at this entrance, which is flamboyant gothic. The entire decor of this château is flamboyant gothic. It's in magnificent condition. In fact, we still have the sculptures on the right and left, which guard the entrance to this castle. The armour is very damaged, but we won't be restoring it in keeping with the spirit of the work. All that's missing is the central ogive we call a tympanum, which is actually at the centre of this door, that we'll be restoring a little later when we've completed the work. But this entrance is magnificent, as is this entire façade, which you can't see today. You'll have to come back and discover it, because in fact the whole façade is sculpted and decorated. When you enter in this château, you can't miss this staircase, which is truly one of the splendours of the château. This staircase is made up of 74 steps in a single block, which in fact form this rib. This is what we call a spiral staircase. Please pay close attention to the risers, as the movement is fantastic. In Périgord, we know of only one that's actually a little bit similar in design, and that's the staircase of the Hotel Gammoncent, a private mansion in Périgord. But more about the staircase later, I'll take you to the lower room. So here we are in the salle basse or salle des gardes, because according to the inventories, this room has had different names. What you have to imagine is that we were five metres lower, so there was no floor, and we had only blue or grey skies above us, depending on the weather. So the first thing we had to do was lay a new floor. We installed a pisse, which is a type of stone floor that was traditionally set directly into the ground. Here, let's be honest, it's set in lime mortar, in lime and sand. But generally speaking, we've kept to the spirit of the room, since we know there was pisse, because it was described in the inventories. You can also take a look at this magnificent fireplace, which bears the Calvimont coat of arms, two lions, two towers, a coat of arms that is something of a mystery, since in fact it's also the coat of arms of Castile. So were they copied? Have they been attributed? It's all a mystery, and I know there are a few historians working on it. So this mantelpiece arrives almost intact, and that's how lucky we are. The only piece we were missing was this corner here, with a very nice sculpture, which is a bit of a phantasmagorical sculpture, actually found under this stone, which we found in a field and were able to put it back in place. So there was virtually no work required on the fireplace. We put back the beams, we put back the floors, corbels also, when they had disappeared. But most of the room, most of the decor is original. Since the whole decorative scheme that you find on this wall is 16th century, which we discovered under a whitewash and which we restored on part of the room. We know it was everywhere because if you look at this side, we still have remnants here also. In this room, we still have a bit of patina work to do. Of course, we still have to install water, electricity and fluids. But generally speaking, we're well on the way, and we've opted for very simple 16th century window frames, closed by a small wooden latch, with diamond-shaped stained glass windows and oak window frames and chestnut shutters, so that the colors can evolve satisfactorily over time. I'm going to take you to a place we don't usually go. I'm actually taking you to Jacques Le Croquant's dungeon, because Jacques Le Croquant, even if Eugène Leroy, the author of this novel, set it in this château, of course, Jacques never existed. But in the novel, Jacques Le Croquant is put in this dungeon by the Comte de Nansac and stays there for a few days. This room, however, was once a dungeon. So it's vaulted. We're in the process of rebuilding this vault. We have also a vault above. In the 16th century, this whole area was completely closed. We created this whole. When the place was no longer a dungeon, access was via the north tower with a small outside staircase, probably made of wood, since the floor is actually uneven. We'd love to redo this room. For the moment, we're in discussion with the Ministry of Culture, who have authorized us to carry out this incredible operation to restore the Château de l'Herme, and who are also helping us financially, but with whom, in fact, we have to exchange point of views on a very regular basis on the projects we decide to undertake, even if there was a general framework submitted as part of a building permit. I might remind our listeners that we're on a long construction site. It will take eight years to complete. So it really is a major undertaking. You have to find the right architect, the right contractors. We also have to find the resources, the financial resources. It's not easy. And it's a job like that. It's always fraught with difficulties, with things you hadn't planned for. And you often find yourself up against walls. And you have to solve problems that are complicated and often expensive. But we adapt and face them. And I have to say that so far, we haven't got much wood here, but things are going pretty well at the Herme. And we've managed to put together a team that works well with the DRAC, the Fondation du Patrimoine, and all the associations for the protection of historic monuments, whether it's La Demeure Historique or Les Vieilles Maisons Francaises, but also with companies, because companies are key players in this project. They bring a lot to the table. You don't just work with the architect. It's a team effort. And without them, we wouldn't be able to carry out this gigantic project, which seemed crazy. Because when I started this project, everyone called me crazy. But in the end, the fool is often the one who doesn't get things done. So we'll have to remember that. So what's interesting to look at in this tower, in this north tower? First of all, the tower is round, but inside it's square. So that's a common layout for the Chateau's two cylindrical towers. But for our viewers, we can show in what condition the Chateau was when I took it over. Take a look at the walls. See the traces of ivy that remain. Look at the graffiti. Look at the greenery, which we actually have on the plaster. We're lucky in that, despite everything, on this floor and the floor just above. The plasterings, despite everything, are in good condition. So you're going to tell me I'm joking, but I'm not. Because I'll be showing you later in one of the rooms how these plasters, which look quite worn, are actually transformed, but which in fact have held up very well and are very solid. What I suggest is that you follow me and we'll go and discover the kitchen. Here we are in the kitchen. So the kitchen, it has suffered a lot over the centuries. Since in the 17th, we had a huge fire here because we're lucky enough, thanks to the inventories, to have a very complete history of the monument, both in terms of its various owners, the Calvimont family and the Hautefort family, but above all, in terms of everything that has happened in this chateau. The chimney you see here was badly damaged in the fire and we had to restore it. And we were obliged to rebuild the entire lower part of the chimney, as well as the chimney bases, which were very, very damaged. We added patina to it by a decorator specialized in mural decorations, who actually came to do the work and did all the finishing work on this room. Well, it was the same thing. We were four meters lower. We don't know what the floor was like, though. Maybe it was clay. This was often the case in kitchens. So we decided to put in stone slabs, recycled slabs. We still have a trace of where the sink was, the kitchen sink, which was probably more of a tub, a wooden tub, in this hole with a water drain that was connected to the sink. Water drain, which was connected directly to a masonry gutter and went straight into the moat. I'm not taking you. Oh, come on. I'll take you quickly to the south tower, which was, in fact, a food storage area. I'm taking you there because this tower hasn't been renovated yet. It was on this tower that the heritage mission, the burn mission, chose us as an emblematic project for the Nouvel Aquitaine region. So the work will start, I think, not before January or March 2025. Everything has to be done. We'll start with the top roof sections as usual. Then we'll gradually work our way down to the floors below. What we've got here are the remains of where the cannon was installed. This was actually the place where they protected the entrance to the castle. But you can't help thinking that this castle was built well after the Hundred Years' War. It's more of an ornamental or pleasure castle, with a style and decor that recall fortified castles. But when we will go upstairs, and I'm going to take you there right now, you'll see that it's definitely not a stronghold. So the layout of the chateau, the plan of the chateau, it's always the same every time you go upstairs. We have the Grand Logis on the right side, the Petit Logis on the left. The Grand Logis is more of a reception building. Petit Logis, in fact, it's more the bedroom side, or the kitchen side, or storage in the basement. I'm going to take you into the chateau's reception room, but first you'll want to have a look. There are always little sculpted figures at the intersection of these two entrances. And look at one thing too, the art of perspective in this chateau. You can see it clearly from here, because in fact, right opposite of the entrance, you have the window of the tower we were in earlier. Now we're in the castle's reception room. This is the room where visitors had to be impressed. The fireplace is certainly one of the most elaborate in the chateau. Here again, we were lucky, because this mantelpiece was in incredible condition. If you get a little closer, you can just see that there are a few mansory elements that have been affected by the weather. We have this angel here where there was actually a head, which has disappeared from the right-hand corner. Of course, we're not going to restore it. We're keeping it in its original state. What you may notice is that on each side of this mantel, we have two quadrilobes. Two quadrilobes, which is a fairly classical gothic figure, but with completely different proportions, since the left side is larger than the right. And that's the magic of this chateau. When you look at the details, nothing looks the same. The general harmony is there, but on the other hand, there's nothing alike in the openings in the mullioned bays on the outside. When we did all the restoration work on the mullioned bays, I told the stonemasons who were working here, but wait, you're not redoing exactly the same as what you're doing left and right. He said nothing. He gave me a tour of everything, the scaffolding. And yes, no two sets are exactly alike. Certainly because we had different stonemasons at the time, but also because maybe it wasn't the same state of mind. We're not into something purely symmetrical, but overall, I'd say it works, and the harmony works in this room. We were actually able to restore all the door frames, ceilings, and all the beams and joists. We chose to position all the couples who have lived in this chateau in the stained glass windows. Because this chateau wasn't lived in nobly for very long, it was inhabited in a noble manner for about 150 years by only two families. The Calvimontes, who were the builders of the castle between 1500 and 1525, and then the Hautefort family from 1605, when Marguerite de Calvimont was murdered by her husband's henchmen in the chateau's south tower. Subsequently, the Dodefort family took over the castle. But this chateau will be very sparsely inhabited, because the Hautefort family had a magnificent chateau, a little further on, in the village of Dodefort. The Belle Aurore is actually at the court of Louis XIII, so this chateau is really a country chateau, and most of its time, this chateau was in fact a farm where farmers worked and were housed. This also explains why, at the time of the French Revolution, the chateau was no longer a symbol of the French state. It was no longer a symbol of nobility, and it was completely spared, I'd say, by the French Revolution, by the revolutionaries. So here we're actually in Madame de Calvimont's bedroom. Monsieur de Calvimont's bedroom is one floor up. In this room, we worked on the plastering in a completely different way, keeping the original plastering. We have them here. They've just been cleaned. If you remember the color of the plaster when we were in the tower where the dungeon is, with those greenish colors you see, we cleaned them up. And then, in some places, we were obliged to fill in a few patches, because the plaster had actually disappeared. We have a few traces here and there. So I think we'll be using an etching solution or acid to clean and restore the walls, to give harmony to this room, but I think we'll stay with something much more raw. And it's possible that in the room behind, we'll come back to something that tends more towards a completely natural material. And I'm also quite happy to keep a room in a somewhat, I'd say, raw way, because when I found this chateau, it was in very poor condition, and we have to be careful to not go a little too far in the restoration. We have to be careful about this, because the spirit of restoration is to preserve what already exists and to adapt everything we restore to what already exists. That's really the guiding principle, which is why, as I'll show you in a moment, the rendering on the facades will not be redone, just the roofs and frames. We had rather use recycled flat tiles and recycled flat slates than new materials. Because when you look at a monument from a distance, there are two things that stand out, the elevations and the tiles, the roofs. So we opted for simple, noble materials that already had a patina. In fact, already used items, so we can adapt them to this monument. So we arrive in Monsieur de Calvimont's room. We have a fireplace that takes up the entire width of the wall. Although the fireplace in the reception room below is very beautiful, I have to say that I have a soft spot for this one, because I find it imposing yet very light. We're fortunate to have been able to preserve the Calvimont coat of arms, the two lions and the two towers carried by angels. We're still, I'd say, very lucky because the whole mantle was in this condition. We redid very, very little. We redid this stone entablature. We'll have to redo it because it's a bit thick. But generally speaking, all the chateau decorations were in a remarkable condition. Maybe we can go straight to the tower that's just been, which we can now just walk on as it has a floor. But it's interesting for you listeners to see where we started from. Here are the plasterings as they were at L'Herme when we actually started our work. Once again, we're lucky in that the plastering is in good condition. It's dirty. It's green. There are traces of ivy everywhere, but it's not a problem. A bit everywhere, but it's not a big deal really, other than to redo this room. In fact, we had to redo the mantle of this fireplace, which had disappeared. Unfortunately, we still have a bit of work to do. But I have to say that when you arrive in a new room, it's always very moving. So of course, it's a room that's a bit dark because it's late and also because we're actually on the west and north sides. So it's a room that's a bit sad, but I like it a lot because it's in its original state and I'm not sure we're going to go much further in terms of restoring the plaster work, since I also want to keep the château in the same state in which I received it. So these are discussions we're currently having with our architect, but I love the place as it is today. Of course, the floors are provisional, since we'll have to move on to a final stage after all the networks have been installed. I will now take you upstairs to see the staircase vault, which is an incredible vault, unique in Perigord, maybe even in France. Not sure, but it's a vault called the Stone Palm, and rather than talk about it, I'll take you there. What can I say about this vault? It's a stone palm vault. Look at the whole thing, I'd say the ribs. It sways a little like the flames, hence the style we're talking about, which is flamboyant gothic. At the intersection of the different keystones, you also have decorations. We have a small Maltese cross on the right side here, and completely on the left, there's a Latin symbol that means Jesus, savior of the world. And there's also the Calvimont coat of arms, with its two lions and two towers. Unfortunately, they're a little broken, but that's not too serious. What we can say is that the staircase is in the same condition as we found it. No interior restoration work has been carried out, and there's virtually nothing to be done, apart from a few joints to be repointed. Of course, there will certainly be some plaster work to redo at the top of the vault. But the good thing about this project is that the stair tower was preserved, and that it's now coming to us virtually unscathed. It's in the same condition as it was 500 years ago, with steps that are occasionally worn, but not excessively so. And as we didn't mention earlier, let's not forget the decor on all these steps. Here we have little designs called prismatic moldings, reminiscent of the mullioned windows on the facade. This is the design of the mullioned bays on the facade. The aim of these decorations is to give lightness to this sumptuous staircase. I'm going to take you on a tour of a major work. Admittedly, it's not a work of art from the 15th or 16th century. It's actually a work from the 21st century. But please come and see, and I invite you to discover that we are still capable of doing incredible things with French craftsmanship. Here we are in the main part of the dwelling, with mortise and tenon framing fully pegged, which was installed in two parts. The first part in the Grand Logis. And then a year later, this second part here on the Petit Logis side. It's made entirely of oak. Now it's not certain that oak wood was used in those days, since we often took the very best. Even fruit trees were used. But the fact remains that this is a frame in the shape of an inverted ship's hull, inspired by the Château de Piguilhem in the Dordogne region. And it was made by Atelier Zwerignac, who also work on Notre-Dame. To give our listeners a bit of background information, I'd like to say that Château de Lerme accounts for around 15% of the volume of wood used at Notre-Dame. This means that we're involved in a major project, and we're making good progress. We're making fast progress, but we're about halfway through. Halfway through the work on the monument. We're about to install the framework on the stair tower, but unfortunately it's been raining for the last three or four months. So we have no roof on the towers. We're a little behind schedule, but it's not a big deal. When you're carrying out such an important project, maybe we could end this tour by taking you to a room traditionally known in castles as the Treasure Room. Unfortunately, this treasure is not actually precious stones. It's not precious stones or coins. It's actually all the papers, and in particular, all the acknowledgments of the seigneurial rights over all the estates surrounding Château de Lerme at the time. And I suggest you come and discover this room, which is actually at the top of the staircase tower, and from which you have an incredible view of the Barade Forest. So we're actually at the top of the staircase tower. What I suggest is that you take a look at the tiles that are already in place, and see how these tiles are laid on very, very steep slopes. Look at how the tiles fit into the roof structure at the level of the chimney. Of course, we also rebuilt the dormer windows since they already existed. These are the large stone structures in front of you, which you can see them from the side, but on the facade, via drone images, you'll be able to discover them better. They were restored using the example of the Chapelle Faucher Château, and good for us, since we recently discovered a text by an author from the late 19th who recommended using the model of the Faucher Chapel dormers if one day someone actually wanted to deal with restoring the La Herme. And we did it all without knowing it. We're now in the treasure chamber. This room had a fireplace. I imagine it could make a very nice studiolo in time, with a lot of objects and curiosities. It could also be a place for reflection. I really like this room because it's the highest room in the Château, and when you look up, to there you see the scaffolding. But look, look at the landscape here. We're actually in the heart of the Barad Forest. And I have to say that certainly not much has changed in 500 years, and this is it. It's incredible, it's amazing. Well, we've actually come to the last room of the Château to visit, even if I haven't shown you everything, because we've got to keep some of it. So one day you'll come and see what we've done at La Herme Castle, and then it will be furnished. So I think there will be some very interesting things to see in a few years' time, in three or four years' time. But before I leave you, what I'd like to suggest is that you come and have a look at the render work on the west façade, to explain to you a little about the spirit of this restoration, which is important to me. I really want the restoration to respect the monument. It's out of the question for the restoration to take precedence over the existing structure, and that's a difficult balance to strike. This explains, for example, why all the parapets we've put back in place are made of new white ashlar. We're going to have to give them a patina. We've already patinated them, but we'll have to come back and work on them. Once we've removed the scaffolding, we'll be able to find shades that suit us, because when we're on the scaffolding, we don't have the distance to work on the patinas. Anyway, I'll show you now this west façade of the Château, because it's a façade that's much less well-known than the Château's east façade, with its magnificent staircase tower, flamboyant Gothic entrance portal and staircase, which you've already seen. You've already discovered. So come and see the west façade. So here we are in front of the Château's west façade. A great deal of work has gone into this part of the Château, since all the mullioned windows have now been restored. Some of the stones had to be completely changed and redone, but as soon as we were able to keep the stones, we actually worked on them and kept what was there. It's important to remember that restoration has to be adapted to monuments, so sometimes, in fact, we recreate when we can't do otherwise. But as soon as we can conserve, we conserve, particularly in the rendering areas. We decided with the architect to keep the original renderings. We just cleaned them up, because they were originally grey, like the tower in front of you. So we started with this material, this colour, and by cleaning it, we're back to the original pink. Of course, it used to be much more covering, but we decided to leave the Château in that state. We still have a lot of patina work to do on the corbels, but you can see that after two years, since the wall walk is about two years old, time has done its work. Of course, we had already applied an initial patina. And if you go a little higher up, you'll see that the tiles we used, which are salvaged tiles, will, in fact, also give a kind of harmony to the Château that you wouldn't have with new tiles, even if there are some very fine materials being created today by different companies. The work on the tiles or slates, which are historic monument approved, but we've actually opted to keep the old tiles. A word about the dormer window. We talked about it earlier. You're looking at it now. This dormer had to be completely reinvented since it's one of the few elements for which we had no specific documentation, because the first drawing of Château de l'Herme dates back to 1852, and it was already in ruins in 1852, as it lost its roofs and its parapet walk, floors, windows, doors and beams between 1815 and 1830. In 1830, an inventory described Château de l'Herme as a ruin. And that's how I found this Château. And on the other hand, our goal is to restore the Château to a state as close as possible to what it might have been in the 16th century. We're trying not to go too far in this restoration. That's the difficulty, because this is a magnificent monument, and my obsession is not to distort it. So if you ever want to come and see this Château, just remember that we're open twice a year. We open in April for the event Château en Fête, and we also open in September for the Heritage Days. And then, I think that from 2028 onwards, it will be open to visitors on a regular basis, it will be furnished, but we still have many, many things to do. We've still got at least four and a half years of work to do, and until then, we'll have to redouble our efforts. But I'll end by saying one thing. For me, it's a tremendous pleasure to restore and bring back to life this Château, which deserved to emerge from oblivion, and which deserved to be taken out of Jacques-Louis Le Croquant's book and shown to everyone with all its architectural attributes, as it is magnificent. Thank you all, and see you soon.