Château de Grand-Rullecourt, Grand-Rullecourt, France

The fortified Flemish castle château de Grand-Rullecourt with its towers and crow’s-foot gables overlooks the road from Avesnes-le-Comte to Lucheux. The lords of Rullecourt were the generous donors of land to the Abbey of Mont-St-Eloi. Joan of Arc passed there as a prisoner in 1430. Antoine-Constant de Hamel started to build the new castle in 1746.

After the French Revolution, the chateau was sold as a national asset. His grandson bought it back but couldn't afford to keep it. It later belonged to Captain Wallerand de Hauteclocque, who was killed during World War I. After the war, the property was sold in parts. Later rented as a holiday camp, the castle was left uninhabited for some time. The daughter of Mr. Voisin, Mrs. Buneau, sold the chateau to Patrice and Chantal de Saulieu and their children on 24 December 1987. Today Château de Grand-Rullecourt is a Bed & Breakfast hotel.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Adri Mühlrad (2 years ago)
GEWELDIG mooi kasteel in het gelijknamige Franse Grand Rullecourt. Simpel Frans ontbijt (wel lekker vers). Prachtige mooie grote kamers. Zeer vriendelijke eigenaren.

Edith Vermersch (2 years ago)
Endroit magnifique !! Accueil très chaleureux par Madame Saulieu et son époux, qui nous ont fait visiter les grandes pièces du rez-de-chaussée aux meubles et tableaux magnifiques. Avons logé dans la "Petite maison" (2 personnes) à l'entrée du château. Très grand lit et literie excellente, j'ai pour ma part beaucoup apprécié le "chauffage" au-dessus du matelas… C'est un endroit où nous aimerions revenir pour plus longtemps qu'une nuit… Beaucoup de respect et d'admiration pour ce couple qui a su redonner vie à ce beau château, patrimoine français.

Geoffrey Petitpas (2 years ago)
Nous avons fait nos photos de mariage, ma femme et moi, à ce château il y a un peu plus d'un an. Il semblait donc tout naturel pour nos noces de coton de passer une nuit là-bas. Le cadre est agréable et verdoyant. Les murs sont quant à eux chargés d'histoire, que les hôtes n'hésitent pas à nous conter au détour d'un mobilier ou d'un tableau. Les chambres sont magnifiques, pas de mobilier moderne (à part la bouilloire pour se faire un thé ou un café) et reste dans l'esprit du château, les salles de bain sont simple mais fonctionnelles. Le petit déjeuner est correct rien ne manque et pris dans la salle à mangé du château. Il est agréable de flanner dans le jardin ou le vergers. Bref dépaysement garantit. Les châtelains sont quant à eux très accueillant et reste humble malgré leur rend de vicomte et vicomtesse. On voit qu'ils sont passionnés et qu'ils aiment leur château. Ils ont passés une bonne partie de leur vie à le retaper eux même (et ils ont rien que ça, tout mon respect et toute mon admiration). C'est une adresse que recommande +++. Vous pouvez y aller les yeux fermés. Dommage que l'on ne puisse pas mettre plus de 5 étoiles.

Charles Petersen (3 years ago)
Wow, not many B&B offer this Grand Chateau setting, operated by a princess and a Viscount. The room was tastefully furnished in period style. Gracious grounds and a garden with tracts of lawn and fruit trees. Simply unforgettable.

David Bannatyne (3 years ago)
Beautiful place to stay run by a lovely woman. Breakfast was good enough and the rooms and bathrooms were clean and comfortable.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Polybert49

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The original Cochem Castle, perched prominently on a hill above the Moselle River, served to collect tolls from passing ships. Modern research dates its origins to around 1100. Before its destruction by the French in 1689, the castle had a long and fascinating history. It changed hands numerous times and, like most castles, also changed its form over the centuries.

In 1151 King Konrad III ended a dispute over who should inherit Cochem Castle by laying siege to it and taking possession of it himself. That same year it became an official Imperial Castle (Reichsburg) subject to imperial authority. In 1282 it was Habsburg King Rudolf’s turn, when he conquered the Reichsburg Cochem and took it over. But just 12 years later, in 1294, the newest owner, King Adolf of Nassau pawned the castle, the town of Cochem and the surrounding region in order to finance his coronation. Adolf’s successor, Albrecht I, was unable to redeem the pledge and was forced to grant the castle to the archbishop in nearby Trier and the Electorate of Trier, which then administered the Reichsburg continuously, except for a brief interruption when Trier’s Archbishop Balduin of Luxembourg had to pawn the castle to a countess. But he got it back a year later.

The Electorate of Trier and its nobility became wealthy and powerful in large part due to the income from Cochem Castle and the rights to shipping tolls on the Moselle. Not until 1419 did the castle and its tolls come under the administration of civil bailiffs (Amtsmänner). While under the control of the bishops and electors in Trier from the 14th to the 16th century, the castle was expanded several times.

In 1688 the French invaded the Rhine and Moselle regions of the Palatinate, which included Cochem and its castle. French troops conquered the Reichsburg and then laid waste not only to the castle but also to Cochem and most of the other surrounding towns in a scorched-earth campaign. Between that time and the Congress of Vienna, the Palatinate and Cochem went back and forth between France and Prussia. In 1815 the western Palatinate and Cochem finally became part of Prussia once and for all.

Louis Jacques Ravené (1823-1879) did not live to see the completion of his renovated castle, but it was completed by his son Louis Auguste Ravené (1866-1944). Louis Auguste was only two years old when construction work at the old ruins above Cochem began in 1868, but most of the new castle took shape from 1874 to 1877, based on designs by Berlin architects. After the death of his father in 1879, Louis Auguste supervised the final stages of construction, mostly involving work on the castle’s interior. The castle was finally completed in 1890. Louis Auguste, like his father, a lover of art, filled the castle with an extensive art collection, most of which was lost during the Second World War.

In 1942, during the Nazi years, Ravené was forced to sell the family castle to the Prussian Ministry of Justice, which turned it into a law school run by the Nazi government. Following the end of the war, the castle became the property of the new state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate). In 1978 the city of Cochem bought the castle for 664,000 marks.

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