The Museum Opening hours & Prices
Moulin de Dannemois
Former home of Claude François
Guided and commented tours (about 1h00)
Monday, Thursday and Friday hours:
11:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., and 4:30 p.m.*
*Departure from the last tour
Saturday and Sunday hours:
11:00 am - 2:30 pm, 3:30 pm, and 4:30 pm*
*Departure from the last tour
Arrive at the reception desk 5 minutes before each departure.
Tuesday and Wednesday: site reserved for reception
institutional groups, and groups (more than 70 people) only.
Rates:
15 €uros per adult
12 €uros per disabled adult
(on presentation of the national disability card)
7 €uros for children under 12 years old.
Free for children under 5 years old.
Payment accepted: credit card (minimum 25 euros) and cash.
Seat reservations are strongly recommended, the management of the Moulin reserves the right to give priority to people with tickets acquired via our website.
Summary description of the Guided and Commented Tour:
Important to know: The route of the guided and commented tour of the Museum is relatively difficult to access for people who have difficulty moving around, or walking, in fact this route takes two spiral staircases and many steps inside and outside the buildings.
The Museum dedicated to the artist Claude François is accessible only through the guided and commented tour of the Maison Américaine, as well as a new exhibition room of about 100 m2, and part of the magnificent English-style garden of the Moulin. It is strongly recommended to buy your tickets for the guided and commented tour giving access to the Museum, the opening days and times are indicated above.
The guided tour of the site lasts approximately 1 hour.
The particularity of the Museum is that it is located in the very heart of the Dannemois mill, property of the singer who died from 1964 to 1978.
You will start the visit at the Maison Américaine, which was the wing of the mill reserved for the artist's personal use. In this particular place, he liked to receive his close friends from show business, such as Johnny Hallyday, Michel Sardou, Sheila, or Dalida (with whom he shared the same oriental origins).
You will contemplate its old architecture, but also avant-garde for the time, which the artist will dress with "Knoll" furniture, also giving it a touch of modernity.
The permanent impression that the artist left the place only a few minutes ago, is reinforced by a whole range of personal objects placed in the very place, where the singer liked them to be.
As you can see, the guided and commented tour of the Museum is a real journey back in time, and more particularly to the era of the 60s and 70s, through this mythical place that is the Moulin de Dannemois, property of the deceased icon of this generation, Claude François.
You will then access a new exhibition room of more than 100 m², where the artist's stage costumes, shirts, but also several personal and rare objects of the star are presented.
You will walk through the Parc du Moulin, and you will discover the splendour of the English garden that the singer had imagined for his Moulin.
This guided and commented tour of the site is of course punctuated by anecdotes and words that your guide will distill as it progresses.
It all starts like this:
"We have always been deeply attached to this artist with such an extraordinary career," they admit. We have great admiration for this man of ambition, even if we did not have the joy of knowing him personally." It was through meetings with Claude's relatives, including Prisca, a clodette, and Sylvie Maturin, the singer's last dresser, that the project was born in their minds: "the Moulin de Dannemois was a recurring topic of conversation". So, when the mill was put up for sale, they bought it and the adventure began. At the time bakers, they left their native Périgord, soon joined by their son Julien, and courageously embarked on the renovation of the estate. "When we first set foot there," recalls Marie-Claude Lescure, "I couldn't believe my eyes: it was nothing but a ruin. La The house and its gardens, abandoned by the previous owners, had been ransacked, looted and squatted. Taking our courage in both hands, we set off, in memory of Claude. Then began the obstacle course. They immediately undertook colossal work, relying on period documents and the testimonies of Claude François' relatives. "Four owners occupied the premises from 1978. One of them has undertaken to cover the living room of Claude's "American house" with a concrete slab. We had to break it in order to be able to bring it back out of the slab that was imprisoning it. They had to restore each building on the estate, restore the park, repair the mill wheel whose blades had all been torn off, clean the river, the swimming pool... so that the Mill regains its former beauty. Costumes, paintings, jewellery, glassware, and other personal items purchased by the couple, then gradually adorn each faithfully reconstructed piece "I also managed to recover a few objects stolen by inconsiderate people, such as C- and F-shaped door handles, comments collected from Marie-Claude Lescure / Owner.
