Château du Tertre, 17th-century castle in Saint-Martin-du-Vieux-Bellême, France

Château du Tertre is a long, low Louis XIII brick-and-stone house of the first half of the 17th century, with a single-storey main range, corner turrets and slate roofs, flanked by two 17th-century pavilions roofed in tiles around a square courtyard. A steel sculpture by Pierre Tual, La Table du poète (1984), stands in the courtyard centre, and a 19th-century stone terrace runs along the south-facing park front.

Gilles Bry de La Clergerie, president of the Parlement de Paris and historian of the Perche, had the house built in the first half of the 17th century. Under the Empire, Count André-Joseph Abrial enlarged it. From 1925 until his death in 1958, the writer Roger Martin du Gard lived here, receiving André Gide, Albert Camus and Jacques Copeau.

The château received the Maisons des Illustres label in 2014, when the prefect of the Orne spoke on site. Roger Martin du Gard's library and study remain as they were at his death in 1958, kept by his daughter and granddaughter, with photographs of his circle on the wall. The Association des amis du Tertre, founded in 1996, continues his wish for the house to have a cultural role.

The property is private: the 9-hectare park, listed as a jardin remarquable, can be visited freely, while the interior is shown by appointment only. The park lies in the Perche regional natural park, mainly in Sérigny, now part of Belforêt-en-Perche, with a small part in Saint-Martin-du-Vieux-Bellême.

The Association des amis du Tertre, founded in 1996, works to carry on Roger Martin du Gard's wish that the house keep a cultural purpose. The writer's library and study remain as they were at his death in 1958, kept by his daughter and granddaughter. The park holds a steel sculpture by Pierre Tual, La Table du poète (1984), set in the centre of the square courtyard.