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Holidays in historic buildings in France, Great Britain and Italy
Founded in 1965, The Landmark Trust is a not-for-profit British buildings preservation charity. Its mission is to rescue buildings or sites of historical, architectural or cultural interest that find themselves at risk. Landmark restores these derelict buildings, known as Landmarks, and gives them new life by letting them for uplifting holidays for the enjoyment of all. The letting income pays for the buildings' future maintenance. Today, the Landmark Trust has 186 buildings in its care, across England, Wales, Scotland and Italy. Each year, it saves more.
Registered in 2009 as an Association loi 1901 (French charitable body), Landmark France aims to extend these charitable activities to France. Landmark France has formed a partnership with le Conservatoire du littoral, the French governmental nature conservancy organisation that works to ensure the protection of the French coastline through acquisition of endangered sites. Landmark France and the Conservatoire are working together to save historic buildings acquired by the Conservatoire on its protected shorelines. Landmark France also works in collaboration with other partners in France.
Every stay in a Landmark France building contributes directly to the protection of French heritage. Any surplus from the holiday letting income from French 'Landmarks' is reinvested in other projects to restore French buildings at risk.
The first Landmarks in France are buildings of the former country residence of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Le Moulin de la Tuilerie, at Gif-sur-Yvette in the département of Essonne 35km south west of Paris. Briefly king of Great Britain, Edward abdicated from his throne in 1936 to marry the woman he loved, twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson. After the Second World War, the French government invited the couple to live in France. Le Moulin de la Tuilerie was the only house they ever owned.
Our aim
Just as for the Landmark Trust in Great Britain, Landmark France's aim is to preserve significant historic buildings, and to give them new life and purpose by enabling as many people as possible to experience living in them for a short while. The letting income generated by these holidays pays for the buildings' future maintenance. As a charity, Landmark France depends on fundraising to save its buildings and so needs your support.
All revenues generated in France are used on the maintenance of French buildings. In the event of any surplus, this is used to contribute to one of our other restoration projects in France. What can you expect from a Landmark?
Landmark was founded to give everyone the chance to live for a short time in a historic building as if it were their own. For now, there are 182 such buildings in Great Britain, three in France and four in Italy. All styles and periods are there: castles and follies, forts and manor houses, and together they represent a thousand years of architecture saved from dereliction and restored by Landmark.
A stay in a Landmark offers a unique glimpse of the past. Many of our buildings are associated with important historical figures or events. Others preserve the memory of a vanished way of life. Whether you choose to stay in the Windsors' residence at Gif-sur-Yvette, a 16th-century Scottish castle, the former kitchens that served Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace or a slateworker's cottage in North Wales, you can be sure of a memorable holiday.
Each Landmark is remarkable in its own way and has been restored inside and out to the highest standards. You will find the results of traditional materials and craft skills, original furnishings to evoke the past, the smell of beeswax and the silence of ancient places.
Landmark France and the Conservatoire du littoral
Le Conservatoire du littoral is a French State body entrusted with the protection of the shorelines of France. It was founded in 1975, directly inspired by the National Trust's Enterprise Neptune which was created to protect Britain's coastline. The Conservatoire receives a guaranteed annual budget from the State that it uses to acquire carefully identified stretches of coastline worthy of protection for the general public benefit. While its mission is primarily nature conservancy, the Conservatoire sometimes acquires buildings with its sites, some of them of historical interest. The statutes of the Conservatoire forbid the commercial exploitation of buildings on its sites, but it must still find sustainable uses for them, consistent with its prime responsibility to protect the sites.
The Conservatoire recognized in the UK's Landmark Trust a like-minded body that could bring unique expertise in the restoration and sustainable management of historic buildings. In 2007, the Conservatoire therefore invited Landmark to extend its activities to France in a joint collaboration to help give new futures to historic buildings on its sites.
This rich architectural heritage includes buildings whose history is already linked with Great Britain ? not least that many were constructed to defend France against the British! The new entente cordiale between Landmark France and le Conservatoire du littoral will protect them for the enjoyment and education of all by making them available for holidays. The income generated will ensure the buildings' future maintenance.
The Conservatoire and Landmark France are now working together on their partnership projects, buildings that will continue to belong to the Conservatoire but whose management Landmark France will take on through long leases. The funding will be shared, each seeking its share of the restoration costs through donations and corporate sponsorship in France. Contact us if you would like to donate.
The first projects of the partnership between Landmark France and le Conservatoire du littoral are La Maison de Maître and Le Fort de l'Ile Madame
La Maison de Maître (The Master's House)
Le Fort de l'Ile Madame
Our Buildings
Whether in France, Great Britain or Italy, all Landmark's building are remarkable in one way or another, whether for their history, their architecture or their associations. All have been chosen because they need our help and because we think you will enjoy staying in them, whether for a weekend or a fortnight's holiday or something in between. Some can welcome only two visitors, whereas others hold up to sixteen. They may be in rural or coastal locations; in a created landscape, or at the heart of a historic town. Full information on all Landmark's buildings can be found in the Landmark Trust Handbook or online.
What you will find in a Landmark
When restoring a building, Landmark prefers restoration to replacement to preserve the appearance and sense of age. All Landmarks are furnished with care in keeping with their period, often with simple but practical antique pieces, sometimes with an unexpected flourish. All Landmarks are self contained and you will find modern bathrooms and heating, a well-equipped kitchen, open fireplaces wherever possible, and bed linen and towels. Each building has its own carefully chosen selection of books, a local footpath map and a history album telling its story.
Unique experiences
Whichever Landmark you choose, whether in France, Great Britain or Italy, for the period of your stay you will be as if the owner of a remarkable historic building. You will have the whole building for your own use, to cook in, to sleep in and to enjoy. You can learn about its history and discover how and why it was built as it was. Whether you are fascinated by architecture and history or whether you simply seek a holiday in an exceptional setting, this will be an experience you will never forget.
Remember too that by choosing to stay in a Landmark, you are contributing directly to its new life and purpose, and to ensuring its long term survival.
Landmark France is an Association loi 1901, W751200214. This status enables it to receive charitable and tax deductible donations under French law. It was registered May 2009. Registered office: 6 place de la Madeleine, 75008 Paris.
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This impressive house on Isle Tristan in the port of Douarnenez in Brittany once belonged to the master of the sardine packing stations on the island. In 1910, the island was purchased by the family of the poet and French Academician, Jean Richepin, who added a three-storey pavilion to one end, transforming it into an elegant residence for the family and their Bohemian friends from Paris . The island is the focal point of the town, whether viewed from the mainland or by the sailors of the yachts and dinghies for which Douarnenez is renowned. The Conservatoire acquired the island in 1995 and is now working with the town of Douarnenez to improve public access to the island, which is accessible by foot at low tide. Landmark France 's part in this project is to restore La Maison de Maître in collaboration with the Conservatoire, in order to offer it for holidays for groups of eight. Part of the ground floor will be reserved for use as an exhibition room by the town. Plans are being drawn up through 2010 and funds are being sought.
Le Fort de l'Ile Madame casts a watchful eye over the estuary of the River Charente, off the coast from La Rochelle and Rochefort, both important naval ports in their day. The island is accessible at low tide by a remarkable natural causeway. The fort was mostly built in the 1860s to protect the estuary from the British navy, at a time when Anglo-French relations were unusually tense (Landmark cares for several forts in Britain built as protection from the French in the same years!). The fort has been empty and sad for decades. The Conservatoire is working to improve the landscape of the whole island; Landmark France is doing its bit in helping provide a solution for the fort's large and beautifully constructed stone barracks block, by restoring it and making it into two Landmarks for eight.
