Château de Caradeuc (également sur communes de Longaulnay (35) et Saint-Pern (35)), located in Plouasne (Département 22), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
On the edge of the Côtes-d'Armor region, Château de Caradeuc boasts one of the largest French-style parks in Brittany, a fascinating legacy of the prosecutor La Chalotais, an opponent of the Jesuits.
Nestling on the heights of Plouasne, on the borders of the Côtes-d'Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine departments, Château de Caradeuc stands out as one of Brittany's most distinctive stately homes. Its classical silhouette, punctuated by projecting pavilions and crowned with roofs heightened at the end of the 19th century, dominates a landscape of gentle bocage where the formal and the natural blend with rare elegance. What sets Caradeuc apart from so many other Breton residences is first and foremost its exceptional grounds, orchestrated at the end of the 19th century by landscape architect André and architect Mellet. Extending over several dozen hectares, this landscaped area brilliantly combines the rigour of formal gardens - terraces, straight paths, roundabouts - with the freer breathing of the surrounding forest. You'll discover a rare wealth of statuary: Renaissance porticoes, sculptures from the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, columns from the Combourg covered market and, the highlight of the walk, a statue of Louis XVI watching over these ordered perspectives. Visiting Caradeuc is like strolling through the layers of time. Each façade, each arcade, each ornament tells the story of a different era: the classical gravity of the 17th century, the neoclassical taste of the early 19th century, the ambition to represent the Belle Époque. The motto sculpted into the pediment - "Stop your heart" - resonates like an invitation to pause and contemplate. The château is also inextricably linked with the figure of Louis René de La Chalotais, Attorney General of the Parliament of Brittany, who made Caradeuc his home and one of the most active intellectual centres of the Brittany of the Enlightenment. His decisive action against the Society of Jesus gave the site a historical and political dimension that went far beyond the regional context. Listed as a Historic Monument since 2011, the estate offers heritage lovers, walkers and photographers an enchanting setting, particularly striking in spring when the foliage frames the statues in filtered light, and in autumn, when the paths of the immense park turn golden.
Château de Caradeuc has a rectangular floor plan based around a symmetrical main building, flanked by a slightly projecting central pavilion and side pavilions, the east pavilion being particularly well-developed. This three-stage composition, classic in principle, is made legible by the rhythm of the projections on the north facade, which creates a subtle interplay of shadows and volumes. The south facade is dominated by the triangular pediment added in 1820, bearing the family coat of arms and the motto "Arreste ton coeur" ("Set your heart on end"), which lends the whole an appropriately neoclassical gravity. The roofs, which were raised at the end of the 19th century, accentuate the verticality of the pavilions and give the château's silhouette a more assertive character, characteristic of the Victorian remodelling that affected many Breton homes at the time. Inside, the centrepiece is the monumental three-pronged grand staircase in the north section, whose generous proportions and quality of execution bear witness to the ambitions of those who commissioned it in 1898. The park is the estate's true masterpiece. Designed by landscape gardener André at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it combines the constraints of the formal garden - tiered terraces, straight paths converging on roundabouts, architectural fabriques - with the freedom of a deep forest that frames and extends the formal composition. The statuary, remarkable for its diversity, includes Renaissance-inspired porticoes, sculptures from the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, columns reused from the Combourg covered market, and a statue of Louis XVI, creating a veritable open-air museum in the heart of the Breton bocage.
Château de Caradeuc (également sur communes de Longaulnay (35) et Saint-Pern (35)) is located in Plouasne, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Château de Caradeuc (également sur communes de Longaulnay (35) et Saint-Pern (35)) dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Château de Caradeuc (également sur communes de Longaulnay (35) et Saint-Pern (35)) is currently closed to visitors.
