Photo : Ottaviani Serge / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Château de Bernicourt
Built in its present form in 1743 on a 25-hectare estate, the Château de Bernicourt, in the Nord, was formerly (around 1374) a manor with a farmyard. Until the early 20th century it was a seigneurial residence. It belonged to the coal mining company from 1930 to 1985, when managers and employees were housed there. Since 1985 it has belonged to the town of Roost-Warendin.
Restored at the town's initiative, it is regaining its former splendour year by year. Opened to the public in 1989 and emptied of its period furniture, it now hosts temporary exhibitions on the ground floor and an ecomuseum on the first floor and in the cellar. A restaurant, Le Chat Botté, adjoins the château. The attic, cellars and many rooms are coming back to life, as are the outbuildings: cowsheds, stables, hunting lodge and chapel.
