La Ramorie has never belonged to one story alone.
Over the centuries, it has been shaped by families, craftsmen, workers, soldiers, children and caretakers. Their traces remain in archives and portraits, in old stone, waterways, paths and memories.
Today, we see ourselves as part of that longer chain. We are not beginning the story of La Ramorie. We are listening to it, restoring what we can and carrying it carefully into its next chapter.
The name La Ramorie, historically also written La Ramaurie, is associated with the old word rama,meaning branch.
It was a name for a wooded place: a landscape of trees, water and fertile ground. The name has endured through centuries of agriculture, industry, war and renewal.
Archival postcard of La Ramorie, early twentieth century.
Jean Abraham André Poupart de Neuflize, 1784–1836
From its earliest records in the eighteenth century, La Ramorie was connected to Sedan’s prosperous textile world. Families including Chardon, Béchet, Poupart de Neuflize and Montagnac became part of the estate’s history through ownership, marriage and enterprise.
The Givonne shaped more than the landscape. Its water fed the millrace, powered machinery and helped make La Ramorie a working estate for generations.
During the Battle of Sedan in 1870, La Ramorie was used as an ambulance, or field hospital. Water power continued to play a role here in the decades that followed, until the factory was destroyed by fire in 1916 during the First World War.
From the 1930s onward, La Ramorie entered a quieter period. For generations, it remained a family home, carefully lived in and woven into the memories of those who grew up there. When the house eventually came into our hands, we became its next custodians.
We are Luc and Danette, based in Antwerp. For us, La Ramorie is a place where we work with our hands while also finding the quiet to look closely, think carefully and preserve what is already here.
What first made us stop was the landscape: the woods, the river winding around the estate, the old millraces and the quiet grandeur of it all. From our first walk through the grounds, we felt we were moving through a place where many lives had left their mark.
Over time, we have come to know the smaller signs too: the birds, animals, insects and plants that tell you a landscape is alive. We try to care for all of it.
When La Ramorie came into our hands at the end of 2024, it was not a blank canvas. It was a house already full of memories. Our task was not to begin again, but to prepare it for its next chapter.
Since then, we have done much of the work ourselves: researching its history, stripping paint, wallpapering, tiling, working on electrics and lighting, sourcing materials and bringing the rooms back to life one by one. Even the smallest choices have been made slowly, from colours and fabrics to the place of an old portrait.
We have tried not to impose a vision on La Ramorie, but to listen to what the house was already telling us.
Luc and Danette
Luc and Danette at La Ramorie
Our son-in-law, Edel Van Riet, is the founder of NOBL Places, a collection of distinctive private properties chosen for their character, individuality and sense of place.
Through his work with Château Guillermo and Rarámuri, Edel has learned how much trust, attention and thoughtful presentation matter when people choose something distinctive.
For La Ramorie, NOBL Places manages reservations, payments, the guest guide and communication before and after your stay. This allows us to remain focused on the house, the estate and the work involved in caring for it.
Your booking information and practical communications will therefore come from laramorie@noblplaces.com, always clearly connected to La Ramorie.
During your stay, we remain personally involved and are here whenever you need us.
Edel Van Riet
La Ramorie is offered as a whole house, entirely yours for the length of your stay. We hope you feel here what we felt the first time we walked through the door.