Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Le Bois des Moutiers is a 12 hectare estate located in Varengeville-sur-Mer (Seine-Maritime, Normandy), acquired in 1898 by Guillaume Mallet, a Protestant banker, and his wife Marie-Adelaïde Grunelius. This wild site along the cliffs of the coast of Alabaster, frequented by artists such as Monet, Picasso or Debussy, becomes their project of life: creating a total work mixing architecture, gardens and theosophical philosophy. They entrust the design to British architect Edwin Lutyens (29 years old) and landscape designer Gertrude Jekyll, major figures of the Arts & Crafts movement. Their collaboration aims at a perfect harmony between the house, the gardens structured in "chambres de verdure", and the park descending to the sea, where are alongside exotic species and local flora.

Guillaume Mallet, inspired by his stay in England and his theosophical convictions, imagines the domain as a "core of universal brotherhood" and a place of spiritual awakening. The manor, built in the Arts & Crafts style, incorporates geometric symbols (gold number, numbers 2, 3, 7) and noble materials, while the gardens, designed as an initiatory journey, interact with the interiors. The park, built in clay valley, juxtaposes organized nature and wild vegetation, with imported trees (Atlas cedars, Japanese maples) naturalized in acidic soil. The estate attracts an artistic and intellectual elite, including Proust, Gide, Cocteau, or Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti, close to the Mallet.

Ranked a Historical Monument in 2009 after a first partial protection in 1975, Le Bois des Moutiers is the first French private garden open to the public in 1970. Labeled a remarkable garden in 2004 (lost since 2024 for accessibility reasons), it is sold in 2019 to Jérôme Seydoux after more than a century in the Mallet family. The visits, suspended between 2019 and 2024 for renovation, resume in May 2024 by reservation, with a guided tour of 1h15. The estate illustrates the legacy of the Arts & Crafts movement and the utopia of a life in harmony with art and nature.

The history of the place is marked by key figures: Edwin Lutyens, author of the mansion and future architect of New Delhi, Gertrude Jekyll, pioneer of the English gardens, and the Mallet, patrons and theosophers. Their vision transcends religious or social divisions, as evidenced by the pre-Raphaelite influences (Rossetti, Burne-Jones) and the principles of William Morris ("what is useful is beautiful"). After World War II, the damaged estate was restored by the heirs. In 2019, its sale ensures its sustainability, while limiting access to preserve its integrity.

The gardens, organized in seven levels around the house, play on colors, fragrances and perspectives to create distinct "atmospheres". The park, conceived as a living art work, uses the changing light of the Normandy coast to animate its plant compositions. The Mallet saw it as a place of inner transformation, where man and nature are one, according to the theosophical ideal. Today, the Bois des Moutiers remains a rare testimony of the alliance between architecture, landscape and spirituality, while adapting to contemporary conservation constraints.

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