The French like to keep the English at arm’s length. Our use of unregulated longbows in 1415 has led to a vehement rejection of the English language (the Académie Française continue to lead a fierce assault on the integrity of French), cooking à l'anglaise — leathery meat and soggy puddings — is considered a crime against humanity and let’s face it, the naming of the English Channel is enough to encourage even the most diplomatic of satirists to depict us as boorish misshapen rosbifs.
However, we have an ace buried in our hand of English eccentricities: the tradition of the country-house weekend; a private party in a grand — often crumbling — country pile surrounded by the very essence of English decoration, a style described by Ben Pentreath as being ‘endlessly obsessed by class at the same time as utterly professing not to be’ (‘A sense of place and time’, October 9, 2024). Croquet, cocktails and country pursuits. The straightforward shooting weekend so very favoured by Edward VII, the most Parisian of English kings. Très seduisante, non?
Until recently, the chic set of the 16th arrondissement — the ‘Belgravia’ of Paris — escaped the city by decamping to Versailles (bien sûr), the Loire Valley or to the coastal communities of Normandy. Now, only a 45-minute drive from Gare du Nord or 30-minute TER railway ride from Montparnasse, is L’Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay.
Situated in la forêt de Rambouillet, this 12th-century Cistercian abbey endured until the French Revolution, after which the religious community was dissolved in 1791. In 1873, the ruin was purchased by Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild, who — with her husband, Baron Nathaniel — settled in Paris after her husband was left half-paralysed following a riding accident on the hunting field.
A prolific patron of the arts and an accomplished watercolourist in her own right, the Baroness stabilised the ruins and commissioned the Rothschild family architect Félix Langlais to restore the 17th-century building with interiors emulating the chapterhouse and adding a stable block to the estate to house a string of fine thoroughbreds. Classified as monument historique in 1926 and fully protected in 1994, the thick stone walls of this monastic palace whisper with tales of the past — from the sacred St Thibault fountain, the waters of which are said to have helped Margaret of Provence and King Louis IX conceive 11 children — to the secret passageways that concealed (yet to be found) treasures taken from the Palace of Versailles during the German occupation of the Second World War.
Exuding both Arcadian tranquillity and a wealth of cultural richness, L’Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay was an irresistible acquisition in 2020 for high-octane luxury hospitality group, the Paris Society. After two and a half years of sensitive refurbishment, the abbey opened its doors once again, this time to a new cult of worshippers that include Jacquemus, Pierre Niney, Eva Longoria and fashion house Louis Vuitton among its congregation. Former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has also been spotted on the estate. Théo Gilbert, the Paris Society’s director of hotel projects, explains that the Abbaye sits at the level of historic significance and preservation requirements just below that of Versailles. Working with a historical monument was certainly ‘challenging’, but necessary to ‘preserve the patrimony of L’Abbaye’, admitting the building will endure ‘longer than any of us’.
The appeal of L’Abbaye lies in the way that its unrestrained French Rothschild intensity of decoration and furnishing has been enhanced by an enthusiastic arbiter of le style Anglais: Dior Maison’s creative director, Cordelia de Castellane. A very French expression of English style, bold floral wallpapers and cutesy chintz are complemented by exquisite dark-wood panelling, marble fireplaces and rattan furniture; tartan plaid and Chesterfield sofas are offset by leopard-print carpets; Pierre Frey toile de Jouy and William Morris wallpaper vie for attention amid the objets d’art, porcelain light switches, volumes of coffee-table tomes and sumptuous floor-length curtains. Reassuringly expensive Penhaligon’s scent — on my visit, the heady rose, grapefruit and sandalwood blend of ‘Halfeti’ — wafts through the corridors and permeates from the plentiful supply of toiletries provided. No two rooms are alike and the integrity of the building pleasingly overrides the convenience of the guest — some rooms don’t have showers and there’s certainly no air conditioning — but this only adds to the old world l’art de vivre and undoubtedly ensures a European sort of clientele.
The estate offers six dining experiences. Breakfast is taken in the Le Réfectoire des Moines — a magnificent Hogwarts-esque dining hall with soaring vaulted ceilings and chandeliers; L’Auberge is the spot for a relaxed farm-to-fork French dining; and beneath the mediaeval arches of James’s Bar, indulge in croque monsieurs, cigars and cocktails. The pièce de résistance is Les Chasses — once the Rothschild’s trophy room and now a riot of plush velvet, stained glass, Bernardaud porcelain and brass hunting horns — which serves game and seafood in a style not dissimilar to Wiltons and most recently featured in an episode of Emily in Paris.
Les Haras, the former stables, now serves as a luxurious Tata Harper spa. Across 185 acres of parkland, activities range from boating and bicycling, yoga to tennis, a gaming room and a 49-seat cinema.
How to get there
Agnes Stamp travelled by Eurostar from St Pancras International to Gare du Nord, which costs from £39 per person.
The latest addition to the estate is la Ferme — a bucolic 38-room rambling farmyard residence ideal for families (and anyone who wants to embody their inner Marie Antoinette and cosplay as a shepherdess among the chickens, goats, rabbits and donkeys).
Homely, elevated and the first of its kind — the Gallic equivalent of Estelle Manor meets Soho Farmhouse — L’Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay is a majestic weekend retreat that is auspiciously English in feel. When in France, do as the French do — make a pilgrimage to L’Abbaye.
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