Château de Balleroy

The Château de Balleroy is a seventeenth-century château in Balleroy, Normandy.

Outlook

The fief of Balleroy, near the forest and abbey of Cerisy, was acquired on April 1, 1600 by Jean de Choisy, wine supplier at the court of Henri IV.

The castle was built from 1626 to 1636 by his son, Jean II de Choisy who became State Councilor and chancellor of the profligate Gaston, Duke of Orléans, brother of Louis XIII who hired architect François Mansart from 1634 for the reconstruction of the château de Blois.

an architectural Louis XIII chef d'œuvre

The unknown architect, who had already draughted the plans of the château de Berny, a remodeled dwelling for chancellor Pierre Brûlart de Sillery (1624-1625), came frequently to Balleroy from 1632 to 1634 and consigned the old plans of the former castle and village, that were shifted and laid around a main axe to enable a view on road, avenue or honorary path, moderate slope, cour d'honneur framed by two square, long, low, common pavillons, covering floors of boxwood rinceaux, cour d'honneur de plan cintré flanquée de deux guérites, enfin terrasse ceinte d'une balustrade, comme un « plateau » où semble posé le château.

Balleroy

Balleroy ( French pronunciation ) is a French commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region of north-western France.

The inhabitants of the commune are known as Biardais or Biardaises and Billards or Billardes.

Geography

Balleroy is located some 16 km south-west of Bayeux and 21 km north-east of Saint-Lô. Access to the commune is by the D13 road from Cerisy-la-Forêt in the west which passes through the village and continues east to Lingèvres. The D28 road goes south from the village to Planquery. The commune is mainly farmland with the Château de Balleroy grounds just west of the village occupying a substantial land area.

The river Drôme forms the western and north-western borders of the commune as it flows north-east to eventually join the ocean at Port-en-Bessin-Huppain. The Ruisseau de la Commune flows from the west to join the Drome in the commune. The Vesbire forms the south-eastern border of the commune as it flows south-west to join the Drôme.

Neighbouring communes and villages