MELUN, Île-de-France, Address available on request

A remarkable manor house to be restored, with an orangery, outbuildings and bucolic grounds, nestled in France's Seine-et-Marne department, one hour from Paris. An imposing wooden gate leads into the property. This entrance gate takes you into the paved main courtyard, which is surrounded by the manor house, the orangery and the stable. The remarkable architecture of this complex is unique. The complex is made up of a main section with a ground floor, a first floor and a second floor. This section is crowned with a mansard roof, which suggests that this part dates back to the 18th century. On its west side, there is an adjoining tower with a suspended balcony that looks down over the whole complex. In the court's south-west corner, a round tower with brickwork and white stone is crowned with a cone roof. It links the main section to a south wing that lies at a right angle to the main section. This wing has a pavilion with a hipped roof. It also includes a gallery with a roof terrace edged with low walls of terracotta openwork. This gallery connects to the orangery. At the north end of the main section, there is an octagonal tower made of brick. This adjoining tower brings a certain symmetry and harmony to the whole complex. The north wing has elevations of rendering that coats its stonework. It also has touches of red brickwork, which forms the lintels and some of its quoins and window and door surrounds. The wing stretches on either side of a central avant-corps, through which a covered passageway runs from the courtyard into the grounds. On the east side of this avant-corps there is a stable and another part of the manor house. Upon the north, west and south sections of this remarkable complex, the roofs, which have slate tiles, flat tiles and zinc coverings, are diverse in shape and are punctuated with dormers and chimney stacks. The other outbuildings include a kennel and a henhouse, which are now disused, as well as storehouses. They stand north of the complex. Lastly, on the south side, a rocky outcrop houses a former icehouse. The ruins of a folly lie upon it. The manor house belonged to Harriet Howard), a British socialite and actress and a mistress of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte) - the future Napoleon Iii. Indeed, she was his main financial backer.