Château de Mesnil-Voisin
Encyclopedia
The château de Mesnil-Voisin is a French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 château, located at the heart of the hamlet of "Mesnil-Voisin" in the commune of Bouray-sur-Juine
Bouray-sur-Juine
Bouray-sur-Juine is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France.-Geography:The village lies on the right bank of the Juine, which forms all of the commune's northern border....

 in the department of Essonne
Essonne
Essonne is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It is named after the Essonne River.It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments.- History :...

.

Le château was built by Michel Villedo, one of the famous "Maçons de la Creuse". It has an orangery
Orangery
An orangery was a building in the grounds of fashionable residences from the 17th to the 19th centuries and given a classicising architectural form. The orangery was similar to a greenhouse or conservatory...

, kitchens, coachhouses and workshops. At the centre of its communal courtyard a huge dovecote
Dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...

 with 3000 niches and a wood-framed roof, and topped by a conical turret - it is rare in having its internal moveable staircase still intact.

The course of a canal bordering the rear of the château were entirely removed between 1999 and 2001. It has thus returned to its original course, leaving the Juine
Juine
The Juine is a 53-kilometre-long French river. It is a tributary off the left bank of the Essonne River.Its source is in Loiret, in the forest of Chambaudoin, less than 3 km south-west from Autruy-sur-Juine...

a short distance upstream of the château and rejoining it some distance downstream, just before the pont de Cochet.
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