La Poterne du Château de Fleury

It is on the road that goes from Courances to Fontainebleau that is located the magnificent estate of Fleury-en-Bière surrounded by huge walls of stone and brick, in keeping with the style of the castle and its annexes. Then suddenly, a small house can be seen overlooking the imposing arched dark wooden door leading to Château de Fleury. This house known as “La Poterne”, is the only spot where one can have an overall view of the castle. It is, in fact, the former guard house who, from the platform could supervise easily the comings and goings of everyone. It is said that one night in 1626, a dinner was organized at Château de Fleury to which most of the conspirators against Louis XIII, who was still a very young king at the time, where invited. This plot was muffled right at its start by the confessions of Monsieur, the brother of the King, who was amongst the conspirators. But he was such a coward that he gave the names of everyone to the King. The dinner never took place …. and the guard of La Poterne must have waited quite a long while for those carriages that never arrived … Lived in since the construction of Château de Fleury in mid 16th century, a fire burnt down La Poterne in August 2013. In 2016 Pierre d’Histoire recovered the building and restored it over a period of six months, with the help and savoir-faire of three artisans. From the fire, nothing could be salvaged except for an old staircase dating from the 17th century, its terra cotta floor tiles and the fireplace. Today, the Poterne is made of one living room and two bedrooms. This distribution of rooms remains unchanged from its original version, as no floor plan has been modified. For this renovation, the biggest challenge was to modify the first floor from one room to three distinct rooms (kitchen, living room and dining room) without changing the volume and the esthetics of the initial space. To be able to do that, the choice of furniture was crucial: it was particularly important to find a very narrow dining room table and a stove that coincided perfectly, in size, to the fireplace. As for the interior decoration, every detail is an invitation for relaxing and resting. The subtle soft tones and 18th century country style furniture decorate this unusual place. A special note for the pretty wardrobe found at Drouot as well as the Reeve’s pheasant on the stairway. Although the origins of the Poterne was that of a modest guard house, the spirit of chateau life is definitely present.