Chateau de Balleroy

The chateau and garden were designed by Francois Mansart in 1626. Mansart included a plan for a village in his design. There is a seventeenth century dovecote. Kenneth Woodbridge wrote that 'Offices and other buildings are strung out along the forecourt. These culminate in a courtyard before the house, with terraces on either side flanked by pavilions. The garden proper has long been turned into a park'. Andre le Notre drew a plan of the garden. Balleroy was purchased by Malcolm Forbes in 1970 for Forbes Inc. He was a ballooning enthusiast and established the world's first balloon museum in a converted stable at Balleroy in 1975.