Informations directionnelles

Prendre derrière vous la sente de la Carrière. Continuer jusqu’au panneau situé à l’entrée de la carrière sur la gauche.

Prochain point : Lat. 49.059815437, Long.1.742922

Former farm of the castle
A farm with a neat architecture

A 19th century far …

The old farm of the château de la Bûcherie, also called ‘Ferme des Groues’ used to belong to the castle owners. The old plans date back to the 18th and 19th century and show that there was a first farm south of the castle’s  terrace. In the 1850s, Ambroise Firmin-Didot (1790-1876) bought the property and had the castle built. He also had a new farm built where it presently stands, opening up the view  on the park from the castle’s terrace. The farm was therefore built in one go during the second half of the 19th century: the architecture is therefore completely homogeneous, unlike many other farms from the Vexin who were rearranged according to the period and the needs. The whole architecture is neat ; the dwelling and work premises were built in rubble masonry covered with plaster coating, the façades bear a symmetrical layout and are adorned with classical style elements : pilasters, triangular pediments, belt course. The farm confirms through such workmanship the financial ease of the purchaser. 

…at the service of the châtelain

In the days of the Firmin-Didot family, the farm was taken care of by a couple of tenant farmers at the service of the châtelains. The farm would ensure the supplies for the castle and held all the necessary resources to self-function: the latest material for the time (farming tools, washhouse, sump, baker’s oven …), a bunch of barnyard animals, sheep, cows, pigs and horses as well as a vast land hosting cereal, vegetable and fruit farming. About ten farm workers and four specialized farmhands were under the tenant farmer’s responsibility. The wife of the latter would take care of the barnyard and was in charge of the laundry as well as of the meals for the farm employees. It was later that the farm became independent from the castle and became a property of its own. It did not stop it from being requisitioned during the war to supply the German army who occupied the castle in 1944. Later, in 1972, it became the property of the Barrois family and mainly cultivated cereal.