Fontaine Henry Castle

Tough end of the week for me. 

With my three 2nd grade classes I went on their end of the year field trip to a nearby castle. 

15 minutes from Caen. 

Fontaine-Henry castle was built in the early 13th century.  

Never sold, it has been passed down from generation to generation since its foundation by the de Tilly family, to the Marquis of Oilliamson, its current owner. He  still lives here and gives private tours of the attic by appointment only:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU-a00nrVTw&t=56s

I found a short 1min. video with him. 

It's in French, but has some great shots of things I didn't get to see. 

(And it's with blue skies not grey which changes everything:)

With a 16-metre high roof structure, its roofs are reputed to be the highest in France. 

In the shot above the 2 parts on the right with the tiny windows date from the Middle Ages (500 AD to 1500) and the rest to the left with the nice large windows dates from the Renassance period (ending in the early 1600's). Sure must have been dark, cold and gloomy in the old Middle Age section.

Let the tour begin.....

Door bell I assume??

This is modern day entrance, 

which used to be the kitchen, hence the 3 enormous fireplaces. 

The guillotine is a reproduction (never used and not proper size) 

built last year for Halloween:) 

The Parlour....

The Music Room .....

Dinning room complete with taxidermie birds. 

Real but not from the Renaissance period. 

Were added to the castle last year for Halloween as well.

                                            Guest bedroom complete with "water closet". 

This bedroom was used in the French film "The 3 Musketeers" which was released here last year. 

I thought it was a great film, didn't know it was filmed here. 

They didn't mention it today (too bad, they should have) 

something I learned in my digging around while posting my pics. 

 I don't know how many rooms there are here total, I didn't think to ask at the time. We only visited five. Since the owner still resides here, perhaps he has an entire floor?? Who knows....All I know is it seems like we visited a small fraction of the place. 

We started our day near these buildings. Some of them where horse stables (the back of which you see with the wood stack and small windows), some garages/storage for carriages, etc. and the nice looking ones with the small windows and doors, I have no idea:)

I felt bad for these peacocks penned in. 

(They did have access to the left side, but it still wasn't too big)

Not much room for walking around considering they spend all day here. 

There were 2 males, one female and 2 chicks following her around.

There is a student named Leon in our class. 

So when the peacocks starting squwaking what sounded like "Leon", 

the kids thought it was too funny.

This was a garden with a labyrinthe. 

My garden should look so good.

Above and below shots of the restored chapel. The kids did a workshop on "coat of arms", the different designs, differerent colors and the different coat of arms for the different generations of families that have lived here. 

Two of kids families actually have their own "coat of arms" meaning that their families date back far enough as "nobility" and have a castle somewhere in France (even if it's in ruins).

Examples of the different coats or arms/blazons from the owners here 

are pictured on the walls.

My collegues and I.....

And there you have it. An interesting place to visit,  I've been curious about since moving here and have never seen.