Le Figaro Nantes
The madness of grandeur 15 kilometers from Nantes.
At the Cellier, the clouds of uncertainty hover over the Château de Clermont.
This beautiful building from the Grand Siècle, built along the Loire, is known to have been the home of Louis de Funès, his hidden lair well away from Parisian harassment.
Sometimes, when even the castle or its garden were no longer enough, the actor rushed into the woods which separated him from the river, his most intimate refuge.
Today, 41 years after the actor's death, this discreet wooded park is in the spotlight.
It's about to change hands.
A sensitive local issue, which causes irritation and whets the appetite of several local actors.
Long remaining in the shadow of the castle, which has become a co-ownership coupled with an artists' residence, the 40 hectares of the park are open to walkers, many of whom take its paths during the summer, to follow the long-distance hiking circuit of the Loire.
Classified as a “sensitive natural area”, this partly wild and steep Natura 2000 site also includes a cedar avenue, a meadow, vineyards and a dovecote.
One fine day, two years ago, it turned out to be for sale, its discreet owner having decided to sell the property.
The news immediately worried local associations, keen to preserve and leave this pretty little estate accessible to the public.
However, the first rumors suggest quite the opposite.
At the end of summer 2022, the prospect of a sale of the estate to a horse breeder emerges.
Rumors are growing in the village: a stud farm could be built in this area popular with blackbirds, song thrushes and crested titmice.
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An unprecedented local mobilization
An unprecedented mobilization then took place among the 3,600 inhabitants of Le Cellier.
Letters, petitions, appeals to elected officials: the citizens of the commune united around the future of the former Louis de Funès park, which had become their common cause.
“It was a fairly exceptional movement;
in 30 years of living at Le Cellier, I had never seen that
,” says Jean-François Trehorel, of the Regards Natures association.
The association In the footsteps of Louis de Funès, which notably organizes walks along the paths where the actor liked to stroll, is also concerned about a possible privatization of this delicious section of the Loire, as nothing obliges the new future owners to be as open as their predecessors.
The privatization of the Clermont castle estate worries the local Cellier associations.
Simon Cherner / Le Figaro
The file becomes clearer over the weeks: rather than a stud farm, the building permit project would rather correspond to a broodmare enclosure, for three mares, attached to a 200 m2 house with a swimming pool.
Hardly more acceptable in the eyes of those mobilized.
“We feared that it was an embryonic subdivision
,” indicates Jean-François Trehorel.
A solution is essential in the eyes of the mobilized associations: pre-emption by the municipality.
This abandonment of local heritage is a political choice
Olivier Ganne, opposition municipal councilor
The popular impulse, however, did not find echoes at the Cellier town hall.
The municipal council's line is clear: pre-empting the domain is out of the question.
The municipal refusal collides head-on with the mobilization movement gathered to “save” the park of the Château de Clermont.
“This estate is an emblematic site of the commune, it was fundamental that the town hall positioned itself to acquire it,”
regrets Olivier Ganne (DVG), opposition municipal councilor at Le Cellier.
The elected official maintains that the department was ready to finance the operation to the tune of 200,000 euros.
“We are not a poor community;
“this abandonment of local heritage is therefore a political choice
,” he asserts.
Requested by
Le Figaro
, Philippe Morel (DVD) assumes his position.
“The repurchase of this 40 hectare park was not part of our vision
,” argues the councilor, who prefers to stick to the program on which he was elected, rather than being distracted by onerous unforeseen events that arise in its paws the
“fervent ecologists”
of its municipal opposition.
“Apart from the purchase cost, we would also have to take into account the operating and maintenance costs of the estate, in particular the securing of an old quarry,”
he notes.
The mayor recognizes all the more having had to navigate sensitive waters as an associate of the buyer of the mares turned out to be one of his deputies.
A detail which did not fail to dismay his opponents.
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“It’s going to be war”
The park affair agitated the local crab baskets for almost a year.
Then, suddenly, a clearing.
Last November, the Pays de la Loire Land Development and Rural Establishment Company (Safer) opened a procedure for pre-emption of the estate.
Responsible for a mission of general interest, the establishment had been requested by WWF France and the Conservatory of Natural Areas of the region.
240,000 euros are put on the table.
View of one of the rocky promontories which delimit the Clermont area, facing the Loire, seen from the long-distance hiking trail along the river.
Simon Cherner / Le Figaro
Safer nevertheless does not intend to remain the owner of the site, recalls Rémy Silve, deputy general director of the regional branch of the company.
“We are going to resell the property during the first half of the year, after a call for applications,”
he explains.
We will of course ensure that the buyer's project meets the requirements of preserving the biodiversity of the area or preventing overcrowding of the trails
.
Different parties are already positioning themselves on the starting line.
Farmers would like to see a sheep farm emerge in the park meadow;
winegrowers eye the old vines of Louis de Funès;
the WWF is also applying to ensure the protection of this natural setting which surrounds the castle.
Other associations would also be ready to try their luck.
For the moment, they prefer to keep a low profile.
Finally, a resident of Le Cellier still suspects the owners of the Château de Clermont
“of wanting to recover all of the wood, to be like masters and gods on board”.
“It’s going to be war,”
she fears.
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Safer believes it will be able to settle on the handover of the domain “
by the end of spring”.
The procedures were delayed due to
“legal challenges”
.
According to a source close to the matter, the owner about to buy the park would contest Safer's pre-emption on the basis of a lease signed in 2022.
“Nothing dramatic;
we do not intend to go back
,” says Rémy Silve, without commenting on the details of the hitch which should soon be decided by an administrative judge.
While waiting for the pot to settle, the elders of Le Cellier fear the worst - and think back to better days.
Marylène David, from the association Sur les traces de Louis de Funès, remembers.
“At the time, the park was already private, but Louis let the kids like us wander through the woods and look for flowers.”
The actor is no more, but the flowers still brighten up the park, always the center of desire.