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Origin and history

The Rairie estate, mentioned in 1445, was successively owned by the Gouy families (1445-1551) and then Bidé. In 1657 Michel Forcheteau, secretary of the king and clerk, acquired it but sold it in 1671 to Mathurin Guyton, whose family was linked to the local lords. After several changes of owners, including Guillaume Hay and Marie-Anne Drouet des Ilets (wife of Augustin-Louis de Luynes), the estate suffered the upheavals of the Revolution and the Vendée War.

In 1790 Françoise-Marie Collet built the Moricière estate there. The present neopalladian castle was erected in 1830 by Anselme Bridon, son of a ship captain and mayor of Pont-Saint-Martin (1830-1838), on the foundations of the old building. Sold in 1839 to Françoise Bigot, widow advised by Pierre Sochan de Kersabiec (who she married), the castle changed hands again before being registered for historical monuments in 1989.

Today, the Rairie Castle, owned by Christelle and Willy Dublet since 2018, houses private spaces for weddings and seminars. Its 9 hectare park and 300 m2 reception room make it an emblematic place of the Pays de la Loire, open to concerts and artistic events. The remains of the medieval chapel, where the daughter of Marie-Anne Drouet was baptized, recall her rich seigneurial past.

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