Historic heart of the Habitation Clément, the main house based on the Domaine de l’Acajou in Le François, was once the residence of the Clément family from 1887 to 1986. It offers the unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a tropical lifestyle and discover the traditional architecture and furniture of a large Creole house.
Listed as a “Monument Historique (Historical Monument)” in 1996, the house and its outbuildings have regained their magnificence thanks to a major restoration campaign launched in 2003.
Located on a hill, the main house symbolically occupies the highest point of the estate. With its ”hour-glass figure “ outline, it proudly overlooks the surrounding landscape: a lush park of 160 hectares where plantation plots and industrial buildings stand side by side, artfully orchestrated and linked together by some planted gardens and pools.
Sheltered in a green oasis, the house presents a front wall made of wood tiles known as “essentes” (small wood shingles), topped with a roof made of thin over-lapping tiles. The ground floor, with a living-room in the centre, has gradually expanded with another floor and side galleries giving an overall picturesque style adapted to the climate of the West Indies.
Open on one side with a pleasant shaded terrace, ideal for relaxing, the house extends by a courtyard giving access to the outbuildings: the stable, the kitchen, the treasurer’s cabin, renamed the “Bush-Mitterrand Cabin” in remembrance of the Franco-American summit of 1991 and, last but not least, the old carriage shed, which has become the “Case à Léo” or Leo’s Shed.