A patient endeavour
1995 — 2009 · Safeguard
After forty years of neglect, an extraordinary growth of vegetation had taken possession of the site. Fifteen years of rescue works, from 1995 to 2009, to clear, weatherproof and secure whatever was still standing.
Clearing
The court of honour had vanished under a coppice: some hundred and fifty trees had to be felled, stumps pulled out, rubble accumulated since the fire carted away. The drive is rebuilt and planted with fifty-eight lime trees.
Logistics
This small 19th-century building behind the kitchens was barely visible under the brambles. Cleared and made watertight again — new roof frame, Roman tiles, lime screed — it becomes the site office.
Weatherproofing
With the help of the regional heritage office, temporary trusses covered with sheet metal replace, building by building, the roofs that had disappeared: west dovecote and outbuildings (1997), south barns and chapel (1998), east outbuildings (1999, with a camp of young volunteers), kitchens and north outbuildings (2000-2001). The Christmas 1999 storms force part of the work to be redone.
Park
Felling, cleaning and reorganising the park: beneath the invasive vegetation reappear the groves and star-shaped paths of the 19th-century English garden, which are restored.
Safety
Entrances to the château and the arches of the court of honour are sealed; wall tops fifteen metres up are purged and secured; the west dovecote roof, blown off in 1999, is redone. The west outbuildings receive their temporary roof in 2006.
since 2001 · Restoration
Restoration proper begins in 2001 with the entrance pavilion, then settles in for the long haul from 2010 thanks to the corporate foundation: two craftsmen on site, and works followed step by step in the Villemont Letters.
2000 — 2006
Entrance pavilion
First major project: the old roof removed (2000), an oak frame rebuilt to the original and a chestnut-shingle roof (2001). The collapsed wall of the west hemicycle rebuilt (2001), the east hemicycle restored and the east barn fitted out (2006).
2007 — 2010
Park
The 18th-century formal gardens are recreated in a minimalist spirit: two thousand box cuttings grown on site for the kitchen garden (2007-2009), an eighty-metre perspective opened north of the main building, the terraced platform and the dredging of the Toulaine stream completed at the end of 2010.
2009
Patronage
In October 2009, twelve Auvergne business leaders found the first corporate foundation in France dedicated to a historic monument since the Aillagon law. It funds two full-time jobs — a journeyman mason and a stonecutter — and supports the works until 2022. Patronage now continues through La Demeure Historique.
2010 — 2013
East outbuildings
Kitchens: slab and utilities, renders, bread oven recut, Chaptuzat stone paving. Rear wall and vaults of the east outbuildings rebuilt (2010-2011). East dovecote: wall tops and ring beam, a four-sided oak roof frame, wood-fired flat tiles; the lantern is set in October 2013.
2014 — 2017
East building
The building adjoining the dovecote receives a pegged oak frame and a porch (2014). Its four 19th-century brick dormers are rebuilt to the original, then the roof is tiled (2015-2016). Cast finials and a copper ridge ornament complete the work in 2017.
2014 — 2017
Main building
An eight-level scaffold inside the château (January 2014), the pediment and its 1869 stucco work consolidated, partition walls raised again. The VMF « Fous de Patrimoine » crowdfunding campaign (2014) raises four times its target. Summer 2017: the first new stone of the château is laid on a second-floor window.
2014 — 2021
Park
Earthworks on the east platforms, lime-tree alignments, buried utilities towards the barn and the park (2016). The Toulaine, opened to the sky in the 1960s, returns to its underground bed beneath slabs (2017-2021). A hemicycle retaining wall, echoing the entrance, closes the château esplanade (2018-2021).
2017 — 2023
Main building
Second-floor windows rebuilt stone by stone, a ring beam along the wall tops, cornices. A tower crane (2020) and a kilometre of scaffolding on the north side. In 2023 the central section — fifty metres of walls — is complete.
2018 — 2024
South-east barn
Future 250-seat hall: slab and heating provisions (2018), then roof frame and covering in thirds (chief architect M. Trübert). A first carpenter is dismissed for defective work (2019), the second walks off (2021); the first third — dormers, tiles, flashings — is completed in autumn 2024. The rest is to be rescheduled with the heritage office.
2021 — 2026
Main building
V-shaped breaches opened over twelve metres to replace every sill, jamb and lintel shattered by the fire: forty-eight stones for the two jambs of a single window. Some thirty doors and windows restored; in 2026 the north-east corner, too badly damaged, is taken down before rebuilding.
2024 — 2026
The farm
Remarkable buildings of impressive size: one range 80 m long and another 50 m long, with a row of four vaults at garden level. The farm hosts the project of two guest houses: insulation and roof of the farmhouse redone, a new access lane lined with elms, boundary wall and pond restored. The farm has been rebuilt, with a complete interior renovation (2025/2026).
2026 +
Frame & roofing
The great project: finally roofing the main building with an oak frame rebuilt to the original design. A very costly undertaking, submitted to the Bern heritage mission and supported by the earmarked patronage collected by La Demeure Historique.
Restoration in pictures
The east dovecote and building: in 1995, lost among the trees; by 2023, roof frames, roofs and dormers rebuilt. Drag to compare.
The kitchen garden: in 1995, wasteland at the foot of the tower; by 2024, the box garden restored. Drag to compare.
Support Villemont
✦
Individuals, companies and cultural partners: your support brings Villemont back to life, stone by stone. Your gift entitles you to a 66% (individuals) or 60% (companies) tax reduction.
