Let yourself be guided by François-René de Chateaubriand at the Château de Combourg

The Park

Start your visit with the 25-hectare Park. The visit is free, getting lost in the alleys and abandoning yourself to contemplation for the time of a stroll, is entirely recommended by the author.
Then recall the memoirs of Outre-Tombe, sit on the stoop and cast the same gaze as François-René on the Cour Verte, the alleys of chestnut and lime trees. And why not indulge in solitude as he did.

See the false cypress, now nearly 250 years old, which has carried the aptly-named “Remarkable Tree” label since 2012. Walk between the Chateaubriand Rose and the Sweet delight Rose, mistresses of this park.

Designed in the English style by Denis and Eugène Bühler in the 19th century. They were inspired by Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe and recreated the Cour Verte, the large and small mall, the oak, lime and chestnut alleys. The spirit of the writer still lives here. And you can still walk past Lucile’s cross today and soak up the atmosphere that led François-René to say, as he evoked his solitude, “you should paint all this”.

The Château

Continue your visit with the château, with the pleasure of letting yourself be guided. A one-hour tour to immerse yourself in the history of the château and François-René de Chateaubriand. The tour begins on the outside, along the ramparts, then moves on to some of the rooms in the château that bear witness to its history, with furniture, period objects, hangings and Chateaubriand’s personal possessions. Surprise yourself with the mysterious atmosphere of the place, imagine yourself as an 8-year-old boy, walking along the corridors to get back to your little bed and overcoming your fears of running into the ghost with the wooden leg accompanied by the black cat that haunts the turret’s grand staircase.

“… People were convinced that a certain Comte de Combourg, with a wooden leg, dead for three centuries, appeared at certain times, and that he had been encountered on the turret’s grand staircase; his wooden leg also sometimes walked alone with a black cat.”. Mémoires d’outre-tombe, book three, chapter 3.

To have the pleasure of ending one’s visit at the curtain wall of the château, which offers a view of the tranquil lake and the Combourg countryside. Leave with a little taste of romance in your mind.

The facades, roofs of the château, as well as the guard room and vestibule are listed “historic monuments”.