Practical Information

  Le Manoir is a beautifully restored, luxuriously appointed Norman Manor House set over three floors in 4.2 acres of lush garden and woodland.

• How to Get There :

– Nearest town: Bourg Achard – 5 miles (8 Km),  Pont Audemer – 10 miles (16 km)
– Nearest cities: Rouen 25 miles (40 km); Paris – 85 miles(140 km)
– Nearest Airport: Paris-CDG 100 miles (164 km) – Paris-Orly 100 miles (167 km)
– Nearest Train Station: Rouen (from Paris the TGV takes one hour and ten minutes)

• Practical Consideration :

– Seasonal availability: Year-round.
– Restrictions: We regret that smoking is not permitted in the house.
– Please no child under 14 years old.
– Minimum stay: 7 Nights.
– Start date: Flexible.
– Extra charges: Telephone and Electricity over 200kw consumption.

THE MANOR

• Capacity: Le Manoir comfortably accommodates up to  6 adults and 2 children (It is ideal for 3 couples).

• Sleeping Accommodation :

– 3 Luxury suites with ensuite bathrooms:
· “The Master Bedroom”: Queen-size bed (160cm)
· “The Italian Bedroom”: Queen size bed (160 cm )
· “The Art Deco Suite”: King-size bed (180cm) convertible into twin beds

– 2 Extra bedrooms:
· “The Boudoir” Single Bed
· “The Yellow Bedroom” Double bed

Bathrooms: Three full bathrooms and one half bathroom.
Full equipped kitchen: Gastronomic Piano stove & all modern electrical appliance equipment.
Laundry facilities: Washing machine & dryer.
Staff: Weekly housecleaning depending on length of stay, grounds maintenance, Pool staff.

• Complete inside entertainment appliances:

– Color TV with home cinema sound system.
– Satellite TV CNN & BBC reception including movies channels (more than 70 channels).
– Multi-region DVD player and VCR with private DVD collection.
– Hi-Fi Stereo system including CD player.
– Books art collection.
– Internet connection, High Speed internet with unlimited connection and WIFI access.

• Outside entertainment:

– Swimming pool. (Heated from June 15th until September 15th).
– 1 Pool size: 36×18 FT / 12×6 meters.
– Pool treatment: maintained completely ecologically, salty electrolyzed.
– Pool security: closing electrical shutters for children security.
– Terrace in a soft rose limestone and sandy beach.
– Pool house with full bathroom.
– Four elegant contemporary aluminum and teak loungers, two pool hammock.
– Small summer kitchenette with fridge.
– Tennis table, bicycles.
– Outside dinning teck table for summer lunches & dinners.
– Tea corner area.

VIDEO

Le Manoir des Labbés is a lovely country home, decorated with fine antiques, situated on a 1.7-hectare (4.2-acre) parcel among fields and tall shade trees, and authentically old yet renovated in a manner that provides every modern comfort. It is the kind of house one dreams of going to when the world seems too much with us, and the heart longs for a place that is soft and green, where small streams run between grassy banks, the wind sighs in the branches of ancient trees and forest paths are speckled with sunlight. 

A twin-pillared entry gate leads to a curving driveway and a long sweeping lawn with shade trees. A family of ducks often pass by in an orderly column, heading for a nearby pond. The manor house, a symmetrically designed three-story red-brick structure with a gray slate roof, has a noble demeanor, solid and substantial. Its commanding aspect makes one think of Madame Bovary, in which Flaubert so poignantly describes the grand houses of the region where Emma, tormented with longings for a grander life, would attend sumptuous soirées and dance in candlelit rooms where silk and finery mingled with romantic intrigues.  Local records date the construction of Le Manoir des Labbés somewhere around the end of the reign of Louis XVIII (1814-1824) and the beginning of Charles X (1824-1830). The style is unquestionably grande bourgeoise, as reflected in the high-ceilinged public rooms, parquet floors, sculpted wood staircases and several marble fireplaces. No fewer than 28 windows admit abundant natural light. The fleur de Lys sundial in the garden is further evidence of the builder's aspiration toward nobility. 

The manor house is situated about a five-minute drive from Rougemontiers, a proud and tidily kept little village with a post office, bakery, grocery store and several other shops. Honfleur is about half an hour to the east, and Omaha Beach, where the American army landed on D-Day, less than an hour and a half to the west. Rouen, a fascinating city whose medieval history, 12th-century cathedral (painted by Monet) and vieux quartier are worth many visits, is a drive of about 25 minutes. And then there's Paris. While Rougemontiers seems a thousand miles away from anything remotely urban, in fact Paris is only 140 km to the east, a drive of a little over an hour via the Autoroute. Le Manoir de Rougemontiers can thus be a pleasant country destination after a stay in the city. We can think of no better way to spend a two or three-week period in France than following a visit to Paris, ideally in one of “Guest Apartment Services Paris” centrally located apartments, with a relaxing stay in a beautiful home in the Norman countryside.

Le Manoir des Labbés  has about 280 m2 (3,000 sq. ft.) of living space on three levels. On the first floor an entry hall with original tile floor leads to a spacious living room. This room has herringbone parquet floors and is furnished with a sofa and loveseat in front of a working red marble fireplace from the Louis XV era.

At the opposite end of the floor is the elegantly finished dining room, which has tile floors and light-yellow walls, a non-working marble fireplace, an impressive 19th-century carved credenza and, over an antique table for up to 10 guests, a crystal chandelier. Throughout the house original woodwork, beautifully restored and polished, complements the traditional 19th-century decor of the public rooms. 

The kitchen, which has an intimate country ambiance, is equipped with modern appliances that include a large two-door refrigerator ( fridge and separate freezer), dishwasher and microwave oven. The professional-level stove, “Gastromonic Piano”, from the very well know French “Godin” trademark, with four gas burners, one electric burner and a large oven, is installed in what used to be an open fireplace. For breakfast or informal meals there is a wood table for four.

Also on the first floor is a “ Boudoir” furnished room ( next to the dinign room), suitable for the overnight guest or for an afternoon nap, with an over-sized single bed in a wood frame. This rooms looks out onto the park in front of the house. 

A wood staircase leads to the middle level where three lovely large bedrooms, each charmingly decorated in a distinctive style, open from a central hallway that overlooks the front park. All the bedrooms are of good size, and each has pretty curtains and bedspreads, and bedside tables with lamps for reading in bed.

“The master bedroom” reflects the classic style that characterizes the decor at Le Manoir des Labbés. This beautifully appointed room has a queen-sized bed in a Louis XVI frame, antique armoire ( wardrobe), fireplace and a commodious bathroom, finished in tile and marble, with a WC. The large ultra-modern shower has multiple jets and glass doors. Like the other ensuite baths, the master bath is brilliantly illuminated and fitted with long counters and mirrors. From the bedroom there are views of the front park and the surrounding fields and woods.

“The Napolitan bedroom” is decorated in a fresh green pastel color but traditionally European manner, has a 140 cm (55" across) double bed in an antique wood frame, a non-working marble fireplace and large in-wall closet. The spacious ensuite bath has a huge bathtub with hand-held shower, and a WC. This bedroom overlooks fields that stretch from the back of the property.

Simple clean lines, soft yellows warmed by parquet floors and a dash of gold and vermillion in the oriental rugs mark out "La Chambre Jaune" as a serene respite as a special room. The marble fireplace with its imposing gilt mirror, throws back reflections of the twin candelabras. In the magnificent carved bedstead nestles a queen-size bed, and facing it, a truly magnificent Louis XVI armoire with mirrored doors seems magical enough to lead to Narnia.

“The Art Deco Style bedroom”,  is furnished in a striking art déco style, offering a king-sized bed which can be made up in twin beds and an ensuite bath with a WC and stall shower finished in mosaic tiles. A large and antique wooden armoire with mirrors welcomes a wardrobe.  This bedroom, which has views toward the front and back of the property, is entered through a private inside “petit salon” room with leather club seats style, a desk…

A staircase leads to the upper level and the "Oriental Mind room," where there is a bedroom with a double bed suitable for a child or overnight guest. On a landing midway up the staircase is a guest lavatory finished in marble.

While it is a country home with an ambiance that reflects the slower rhythms of rural life, modern comforts are not neglected at Le Manoir des Labbés. 

Amenities include telephone jacks that may be used for Internet access with high speed internet; a television in the living room with DVD player and satellite reception, including CNN and BBC, and a laundry room with washing machine and separate tumble dryer. 

In the graceful park that extends from the front facade to the entry gate are gardens and mature trees ( Tilleuls tree aged from 150 years old) , including a gigantic weeping willow that spreads its branches over the lawn and provides shade for sitting outside. Adjoining the park is a large open field, also part of the property, with a massive old barn that once housed the carriages and farm animals of the estate. The barn may ultimately be converted into additional guest space, but for now it is a mute reminder of the affluent lifestyle that once flourished on these grounds. 

Le Manoir des Labbés is the ideal country escape for those who want perfect calm and bucolic beauty without any sacrifice of the comforts. It offers a genuinely rural experience of a character different from that found in the South of France, and could be a pleasant interlude between trips to Provence and the Côte d'Azur. Certainly there is no lack of places to dine well. In Rouen and its environs alone there are no fewer than 16 Michelin-rated restaurants (including five starred establishments, among them the two-star Gill), as well as a host of family-run bistros in the immediate area that offer traditional Norman cuisine.

And with the sites and museums and restaurants of Paris little more than an hour away, Le Manoir des Labbés has another plus for the visitor to France – the opportunity to fashion into one journey the unparalleled sophistication of Paris and the unsurpassed beauty of the Norman fields and forests that lie just west of the capital.