Immerse yourself in the history of Le Relais d’Eugénie.

History and evolution

Why Le Relais d’Eugénie?

The oldest part of the house dates back to 1850 and has had a life full of twists and turns—bits of whose history we are trying to piece together!

Originally, the first buildings served as stables for the horses of Napoleon III and his famous wife, Empress Eugénie de Castillo—who helped make the thermal spa village of Eugénie-les-Bains (in the Landes) and the Basque Country seaside resort of Biarritz famous; their former residence, the Hôtel du Palais, still stands in the latter.

During mounted hunts in the Forest of Orléans, the few structures in the area were "relais"—stopping points where both animals and men could sleep.

There is an amusing story about the time the King of France was supposed to meet his wife, Empress Eugénie, in Courcy-aux-Loges; he went to the wrong village and ended up in Courcelles-le-Roi—another village 10 kilometers away! Since there were no mobile phones back then, they each spent the night separately; Eugénie stayed at a place known as "L’Arbre Sec," waiting in vain for her king. We kept the name as a nod to this historical anecdote!

During the Second World War, the house—which belonged to the clergy at the time—was used to shelter Jews fleeing the roundups taking place in the region and deportation to Germany.

After the war, the house was bequeathed to the municipality of Vrigny, which was able to sell it into the private sector in the 1970s following a relaxation of laws regarding the sale of municipal property.

The same family lived there for several decades afterward, adding extensions, laying out landscaped grounds, and planting trees—the oldest of which are now over 50 years old. One such tree was an unfortunate walnut that died in 2023 due to drought and a fungal disease; rather than cutting it down completely, we decided to keep the trunk and have a local artist carve animal sculptures into it—works you can admire for yourself. We opened our guesthouse in 2022, following the renovation of the existing cottage and an expansion to create guest rooms.

Another anecdote shared by a neighbor reveals that an old Citroën AMI6 was buried in the garden back in the 80s to fill in foundation holes during renovations 😉 We’re in for more surprises! Stay tuned…