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Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
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Treigny
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Château de Ratilly
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Château de Ratilly

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Château de Ratilly
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4.7 kmCastles
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
4.0
97 reviews
Excellent
35
Very good
39
Average
17
Poor
5
Terrible
1
GlobetrottingSwede
Paris, France3,233 contributions
Quiet and artistic
Aug 2023 • Friends
Little known castle that acts as an art center for pottery, modern art, music and film.

Visitors can enjoy live music performances, resident artists and pottery demonstrations.

Nice change from more frequented tourist attractions.
Written 17 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ChrisandMick60
Montaren-et-Saint-Mediers, France576 contributions
Not your average chateau
Sep 2021
There are no major signs directing you to the chateau, you need to keep your eyes open to see them. It is very attractive from the outside and is only €5 entry so worth the visit. A young man gives an interesting talk on the history without going into too much detail. It's highlight for us was the huge working pigeon coop, complete with rotating ladder and three different breeds of resident birds. It is impressive as the photos show. The working pottery is interesting, being operated by the current owners and the finished products are on sale. However that was the extent of interest for us. The only other rooms that could be visited were in fact sales galleries for different forms of modern art, not our thing and mostly extremely expensive. There is an ancient fireplace in one of those display rooms.
Written 2 October 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
L5920GFbernardc
Paris, France6 contributions
Vibrating presence
Aug 2020
A beautiful castle, the pottery made there is (and has always been) a testimony of creativity. The art exhibition which is presented (in 2020 René Moreu) is a useful meditation on the universe.
BC
Written 8 August 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Christopher M
Sydney, Australia25 contributions
Sunday Pottery Market and Original Medieval Castle
Apr 2019
This castle is not fancy, it is luxurious. It is quiet and off the beaten track with only the sounds of nature and maybe, in the right season, a distant tractor. And for this reason, it is beautiful and worth finding.

Be warned this Chateau, AKA Castle (for non-French speakers) is closed on Fridays (I think please check).

This castle is surrounded by countryside with working farms planting, growing and harvesting depending on the season. It has survived beautifully the 700-800 years since it was built. It was one of the models for the nearby archaeological experiment exploring how medieval castles were built - Guedelon. The sandstone looks that old. It is surrounded by trees that also give the impression they've been around for several hundred years and a grass-covered empty moat. There is parking.

The ground floor is a artists' coop for beautiful pottery made from local clay. They have a weekly market selling their mistakes at massive discounts. The variety of styles and skills is impressive.

There are rooms available for rent in a variety of ways as students of ceramics and tourists but they are not modern stylish luxury. They are simple. Reminding one of the fact that this chateau was the medieval equivalent of the lower middle class at a time when the vast majority of the population were peasants living in one or two room mudbrick reed rooved shacks exposed to nature.And in need of a local knight (or chivaleur) to protect them.

This castle was built based on the template the famous King Phillipe August (went on crusade with Richard Lionheart and after a falling out supported his kidnapping which is the core of the Robin Hood stories) created in order to stabilise his control over what would become the central French territories in the Valle D'Loire and the West to the coast.

One of the highlights is a tower pidgeon loft that must have hundreds of them. In those days they were a luxury food only aristocrats were allowed to eat. When you see it you may wonder at the amount of work that went into building it (see the photo).

I think this is a great arear to visit with this castle as one highlights.
Written 3 September 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Barbara H
Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand25 contributions
A wee gem with fascinating dovecote
Sep 2017 • Solo
This is a low key castle experience, I had to ring the bell for someone to come and take my huge 4€ entry fee. There is a history in different languages available, going back to the 11th century. It has been family run since the 50s and has working pottery production and has exhibitions. Doesn't take long to look around and the highlight was a well preserved (non-working) dovecote with space for hundreds of nests, never seen the inside of one before.
Written 7 September 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
GlobetrottingSwede
Paris, France3,233 contributions
Living artistic castle
Aug 2016 • Friends
Old medieval castle which was purchased by an artist couple in the 1950s. Brilliant idea to keep an old place alive: pottery made on premises for sale, exhibition of oil paintings and regular concerts by young promising musicians. The castle also houses rooms for musicians who can practice on one of the many pianos.

Worth a visit if you are in the area. Didn't see a concert but it seems very tempting for another time!
Written 28 August 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
rteecher
Boise, ID61 contributions
A small intact castle that people still live in....
Jun 2015 • Couples
We toured this castle the same day we visited Guedelon Castle. While Guedelon is a castle in the making, Ratilly castle has been standing since the 12th century.
The castle tour is short, but takes you to a working pottery factory. There are other parts of the castle that are off limits, which are likely the owners' accommodations. Give yourself 1-2 hours to tour the site.
Written 23 February 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Frankandrosey
France2 contributions
Fairytale Castle
Oct 2015 • Couples
We visited after seeing Guedelon and loved both chateaux. Ratilly is one of the 3 castles used to create the model for Guedelon and was built about 30 years after the imagined date of Guedelon. In contrast to Guedelon, the walls are built purely of earth, straw and ironstone - no lime as there is no local limestone. The house with a garderobe that you see in the village on the way in dates from the exact period of Guedelon and so was used as a model for certain features. It's odd that some Anglophone contributors found nothing to see at Ratilly, whilst the French rave about it. Maybe the Brits missed the splendid dovecote - with its working mechanism intact - it's an 18th century addition to one of the medieval towers. Or perhaps they didn't see the listed fireplace with its painted decoration. Or were too shy to look around the pottery workshop. The local potters turn up on Monday and Tuesday mornings - I don't know if you're allowed to watch them working - the rest of the week there's decoration and firing going on. And if you like stoneware, you'll love the ceramic exhibition and sale rooms. In summer there's a music school in one wing. Best of all, Ratilly is open all the year round and the delightful guide is interested in and knowledgeable about the castle.
Written 13 October 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
lisbethReigate
reigate113 contributions
Beautiful view from the front in late sunny afternoon
Oct 2015 • Couples
This castle has a lovely facade, there is not much else to see, there is a courtyard behind it, with a couple of buildings you can go into, there is a working pottery and some lovely pots and jugs to buy, a couple of rooms with modern art hanging up,nwhich looks like it had been there yonks! But worth a detournjust to look at the facade and take a photo. Do not bother to go in.
Written 7 October 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Trevor M
Barrow-upon-Humber248 contributions
Oasis
Aug 2015 • Couples
A quiet little chateau where you can visit the pottery and small art exhibitions. People are charming and the pottery is high quality and not too expensive. Don't expect a grand chateau - if you're not into pottery, you may be disappointed.
Written 16 September 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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