PIERREFONDS Never

PIERREFONDS Never underestimate the power of the imagination. Gillian Thornton enjoys the medieval fantasy that is Château de Pierrefonds. Walking steadily up through the grounds of Château de Pierrefonds, I half expect to see Cinderella come running down the path towards me. Or maybe Rapunzel letting her hair down from one of the gleaming white towers. Even a fire-breathing dragon wouldn’t surprise me, though I’d certainly hope he was friendly. Because here at the Château de Pierrefonds, anything seems possible. The small town of Pierrefonds nestles in the far south of the Hauts de France region in the department of Oise. There has been a fortress on the hill here since the 11th century, but in 1393, Louis of Orléans, younger brother of Charles VI was created Count of Valois. And, in a stirring story of family power play, Louis promptly ordered the construction of three new castles, including a rebuild at Pierrefonds. Using state of the art medieval design and technology, The Count commissioned an impenetrable fortress, designed to repel his cousin Jean sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy, as they fought for the French crown. But in 1407, Louis’s takeover plans came crashing down when he was assassinated by the devious Duke. The Count’s lavishly decorated castle remained empty until the early 17th century when enemies of Louis XIII took refuge behind its seemingly impenetrable walls. Bad decision. Artillery weapons had moved on and Pierrefonds was no longer impenetrable. Captured by the king’s troops, it was subsequently dismantled, a threat to royal supremacy no more. So how am I now able to walk beneath magnificent round towers with ornate medieval turrets, through an impressive gateway, and into an ornate inner courtyard to the foot of a magnificent staircase? For that, we have to thank not kings, but emperors. Fast forward to the 19th century and the age of Romanticism when artists arrived to paint the ruined walls at Pierrefonds and writers dreamed amongst its old stones. In 1811, Napoleon I bought the crumbling castle, but it was his nephew, Napoleon III, who was to breathe new life into Pierrefonds. The Emperor already owned a grand imperial palace across the forest at Compiegne where he held lavish receptions designed to impress, but he wanted a private residence too where his close family could stay. The ruins at Pierrefonds – barely ten miles from Compiègne – offered enormous possibilities in the right hands. 78 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 79