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Origin and history

The Château de la Vicomté, located in the Grouëts district of Blois (Loir-et-Cher), finds its origins in the 10th century as a residence of the Viscounts of Blois, from the Comtal family of the Thibaldiens. This medieval castle, dismantled in the 15th century by order of Louis XI during the League's wars, symbolized the rural administration of the County of busses. Viscounty was later recreated for the benefit of the families of Lisle and Vauperaux.

In the 16th century, during the reigns of Louis XII and François I, the castle belonged to Jean Cottereau, the king's first secretary, marking his passage to the Renaissance. The present manor, composed of a main body and brick turrets, preserves elements from the 16th and 17th centuries, such as a masonry façade or a brace inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1946. A corbelled loggia and a polygonal stairway tower testify to successive changes.

In contemporary times, the castle changed its vocation: acquired in 1883 by Ludovic Guignard, vice-president of a local learned society, it became a hotel-restaurant in 1920 under the Rampin and Maton families. During the Second World War, he served as a refuge for Parisian researchers before being occupied by Nazi Germany (1940–44). Today, its hybrid architecture reflects these historical strata, from the Middle Ages to the present.

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