Château Fort de la Fée Mélusine et son parc de loisirs médiéval à St-Jean-d'Angle

With its 20-meter-high walls and its characteristic shell-keep construction, the castle overlooked the marshes and offered a view of the ocean! Built on a reconstructed mound, the castle is surrounded by a moat and formed by a circular curtain wall containing residential buildings arranged around a central courtyard. Two towers flank the rampart, and the whole is very well designed for both passive and active defense.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Louis's daughter, Charlotte Saint-Gelais de Lusignan, restored the building, which had been damaged by successive musketry attacks. She replaced the drawbridge with a fixed stone bridge, opened large windows, and, in the height of modernism, had latrines built. A French-style garden completed the transformation. The medieval fortress became a pleasant residence where the local nobility gathered.

In December 1994, Alain Rousselot acquired it with the firm intention of renovating it. Once the vegetation is removed, the inventory is disastrous. Significant work, undertaken in collaboration with the Monuments of France, will last from January 1995 to the year 2000. No less than 76 liters of water mixed with lime are poured into the smallest hollows of the rampart. A colossal job is done, saving the castle in extremis.

During periods of extreme heat (yellow, orange, or red heatwave alert), the site is open from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and the trebuchet firing demonstration will be cancelled. Misters are available to help you cool down, and fresh water is provided for refilling your water bottles.