Photo : Protokitoy / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
La Roche-Guyon
La Roche-Guyon, in the Val-d'Oise, is a village of the French Vexin, on the banks of the Seine and at the foot of a chalk cliff. Its château is backed against this cliff, overlooked by the twelfth-century keep, linked to the residence by an underground staircase cut in the rock. From the top, the panorama extends over the Seine valley.
The château visit includes the historic rooms, boves (cellars) cut in the chalk, a fruit garden, a French-style garden and the stables. From February 1944 to summer, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's headquarters settled there, notably in the troglodyte part, before being driven out by the Allied advance.
The village, in the Vexin français Regional Nature Park, is walked along the Seine. Allow about two to three hours to see the whole château, gardens, keep and boves.
