In a remote corner of France, tucked against a
vast nature reserve, stands a rather mystical Manor. Once a noble dwelling, this manor was
the cherished home of the Travers family. In 1815, the French government
entrusted them as the caretakers of the neighbouring nature reserve,
affirming their esteemed status. Their wealth grew through
generations of fine horse trading, and their reputation reaching across Europe. Philippe and Marie, the heart and soul
of this grand estate, filled the manor with life and love. Yet, a tragic turn in 2005
abruptly shattered their harmonious existence. Marie succumbed to breast
cancer, and within months, a heartbroken Philippe too
departed from the world. The children and grandchildren of the Travers
family live within reach but display little interest in the manor. Its once grand rooms
and extensive grounds are slowly reclaimed by nature, creating a quiet atmosphere that
sharply contrasts with the lively past. Despite its abandonment, the manor whispers
tales of its past glory. The intricate carvings, the grand fireplace, the ornate ceilings -
each telling a story of a love-filled home. Yet, these stories remain
trapped within its walls. The manor stands alone, its mysteries
growing with each passing day. Why has the family stepped
away from this grand house? Today, we will venture inside to tell the
forgotten stories of their past lives! Welcome back, everybody, to another episode on
the Bros of Decay. I'm Lesley. Behind the camera today is not Danny but Martin. Our friend
from the Netherlands is joining me. We are making a trip through France, and we found the
house of the Traverse family, a French family that started living here in the 19th century.
It's a super interesting place with everything still inside of it: all the antiques, all the
belongings, absolutely crazy. But one thing I want to show you before we go inside of this house
is this car that's standing here in the backyard. It's completely overgrown since the time
that these people left here in 2005. Geez, let's come a little bit closer because
I think over here we can see it even better. Look at that, a white Ford. Do you know the brand? No, man. Fiesta or something? No clue. Wow, it's
beautiful to see it overtaken by nature like that. Okay, bro, I'm gonna let you go further with your
pictures. Thank you very much, and I'll take over the camera. Have fun." There he goes, and let
me take you further inside this masterpiece. I really love the outside of this place. It
has this sort of French-German style to it, with the wood worked into the plasterwork on
the sides. Built in 1815 by the forefathers of this family. The whole backyard of this place
is completely overgrown. It's starting to rain, so yeah, let's go in. Even a stairway that
goes inside the house is overgrown by now. I love these French shutters
that we have on the outside. And here we come to the back door... oh no,
or the front door? I'm not sure. I don't see a doorbell anywhere. Well, it's starting to rain
really hard right now. It's okay, let's go in. Very foggy, misty morning here in France, and
here we get into the beautiful abandoned manor hallway. The lanterns hanging from here
are absolutely wonderful pieces. You can already see paintings that are neatly made on
the side of the wall and a small hall tree. The owners of the family left their coats
when they went out. These people also had two children, but I'm not sure
about the names of the children. But let me now welcome you into one of the
most prominent rooms of this entire place, the dining space. A very typical French design
that we can immediately see in this room. I absolutely love this place in the house, and here
you can see a beautiful design coming back in the ceiling as well, with the woodwork and the beams
exposed. Wow, and then right in front of us here, we have one of the first pieces of antique that
has been left inside of this house, and not one of the least. Look at that! Carved faces inside
of this cabinet, beautiful beautiful statues. How can something like this be left behind?
All the glasses, all the cups, and plates still in there. Look how intricately
they are carved and designed. A Ford Model T, one of the
first cars ever produced, an American-made car. Then a scale, and
everything else also still left here. And something that also piqued my
interest in this room is that the gun of Mr. Philippe is still left in this room.
Mr. Philippe was a very important man, but also his forefathers, because they
were invited by the French government to come live on this piece of land to protect
the nature reserve around it. But of course, protecting a nature reserve also means protecting
against overpopulation, so they probably also hunted here. And this is one of the hunting rifles
that has been left behind inside of this house. It's crazy to think that guns get left behind
in abandoned places. A really beautiful one. Let's place it back nicely here on the
table. Turning around the camera again, I also really adore the display of
liquors still left on the table here. And I've seen this one before, most likely they
have distilled water in there. And this is an American brand that dispensed these bottles.
Sometimes there's even still pressure on it. Oh, this one doesn't have pressure on it anymore,
but you would put water inside of these bottles. There's even still liquors inside
of here. Absolutely crazy. And now, a family of four people: the mother,
the father, the son, and the daughter, would all be sitting around this lovely table
over here, enjoying themselves with a good meal. Beautiful wooden lantern above here. Then we can go further to the sides, a small little coffee table over here for those
times when you didn't want to sit at the big table. I love the statue of the butler that we
have standing here. These were a noble family, so most likely they also had some servants and
butlers inside of their household. You can see a glass of cognac still standing here, probably one
of the last ones that Philippe took a sip from. Beautiful antique pieces over here,
a lot of ornaments and knickknacks still on there. You can see something made
from leaves: Sophie Traverse. Maybe Sophie was one of the grandchildren, a beautiful thing
that she made with leaves. 'Sophie Traverse', before in the house above here,
we've got this wonderful clock face still completely pristine and intact. An 'R'
on there, and then this doll as well down here. Beautiful, maybe a toy from the children back in
the time, but it also seems like a collectible or an antique piece. Oh, knocking something over.
I think this one used to hang on this side over here, like that. It doesn't... no, it doesn't
work anymore. I'm gonna place it back over here. There are multiple of these paintings everywhere.
They're sort of small tapestries made into there. Now we've got this butler's trolley as
well over here at the end of the room, but all the liquors still inside of there. Jeez, that's amazing. Really love the
style and design of that one as well. The leaves slowly creeping inside of the house. And also, the tapestries here on the wall are
magnificent. And what I find really funny is this booth that's standing here in the corner,
and then on top of there, this Indian figure. Like you can see a hand still over here.
But they call this house the 'Indian Manor', and I can relate to it, I can see why, but I don't
know what it has to do with the family. Of course, Philippe, he was a man who traveled a lot around
the world for diplomatic purposes and also for the government. But yeah, interesting. And
here we've got the wonderful fireplace, the blue accents around it, the wood carvings. A
beautiful piece, gold-plated mirror above it, a very typical French mirror that you
see a lot coming back in these manors. Attuned to this lady, this grandma and grandpa,
and then the clock face. These are generally very, very heavy. This one is not too heavy,
but they're completely made out of marble. Spraying beads to the side. Let's also have a look at the fireplace. Wow, there's a deer made out of cast iron inside
of this fireplace. The protection blade behind there. There's even a pot still standing inside of
here, the residue of the last meal that Philippe would have eaten. What a room! Let me give you
one last overview before we go out of here. Absolutely amazing. And then from the dining
space, we can go further back into the hallway. What's very interesting is here is the door that
would lead you outside, and then right across it, we have the kitchen area where the bellies would
be filled, where the servants or the mother or father would make the meals. Everything, as you
can see, is still very, very pristine inside of this kitchen, and there's sort of a raised bar
over here where they had breakfast in the morning. Some Christmas ornaments are also
still left. That doesn't necessarily say that the place was abandoned at
Christmas, but it's very cool to see. Glasses and everything, wow, pretty
unique kitchen. Look at that! In the corner, there's a fridge and, of course,
tradition says we always open the fridge. Yeah, luckily nothing inside of there. And that
smell that comes from it is always horrible. Tapestry here on the wall, depicting old French
life inside of a kitchen, in this instance. A rotor, a... sorry, a blender, 'rotor blender'.
Beautiful name for a blender, I must say. And somebody inside of the house was also a big
car fan, as you can see. 'Fabulous Vacancies', first of April to the 31st of October, 2004.
That's one year before the house got abandoned. Probably, Philippe loved to go through these,
probably a big car fan as well. They were noble, they had the money to purchase these
cars, probably enjoyed them as well. I always find it strange that people put a
washing machine inside their kitchen. We in Belgium never do it, but I see some countries
where people definitely do. Everything's still left inside of this kitchen: all the plates, all
the cups, the knives still in their blocks. Wow. Look at this! Here we have sort of a clock, slash
calendar, slash timer contraption. As you can see, that one still works. And then, an extractor over here with
the kitchen stove tops underneath. And the 'Café De Paris' espresso machine. And here, there are a lot of things left,
like all the cutlery still on top of here. 'Taxi Automobile'. Oh, this is a little emblem
that you would stick on your car, and that would indicate that you've paid your taxes. And here
is a bill for Mr. Philippe Traverse from 1989. Beautiful kitchen, everybody! All the cutlery,
everything's still left inside of here. And even a small chandelier above here as well. I love the stove that we have in the
corner over here as well. Pretty beautiful. Okay, we can also go into the basement from here. Let me first show you this artwork that
we have over here in a bit more detail. It seems like somebody who lived in
this house painted it themselves. It depicts a French landscape. We can go further over here. A couple of televisions are
standing here in the corner, probably ones that they didn't
use anymore inside of the house. And a bottle of liquor left down here. This is an old one. Interesting, the power has been
shut off inside of this house. Okay, let's see what the basement has to
reveal for us, what we can find inside. Oh, I see a scooter or something standing
there. First off, there are two bicycles over here in this corner of the basement, a
blue one and a red one. Very beautiful bicycles, and especially here in the forest areas,
I think people like Philippe, Marie, and the children would ride these around this
area over here. It would be really nice for them. The scooter and the motorcycle are still
standing here in the basement, wow, that's absolutely amazing. This bright
blue scooter that we have over here... I had one of these when I was
younger. When I was like 16 years old, I always used to ride to school
with one of these motorcycles. And then we have this Yamaha bicycle
over here. Even the key is still in the ignition. I think the battery doesn't function
anymore, but if I put a new battery in it, I could literally drive it away. That's how crazy
and left behind these places in France are. Wow. You also had a small gym area down here. You can
see all this gym equipment still left here, these presses, these bench presses. I also saw one in a
corner, a full-out gym. This is what sort of man cave you could say, and a lawnmower and everything
still left over here. Absolutely amazing. It's now time to make our way upstairs, to the
upper floors of the house. I'm pretty excited to see it. Over there, you can already see
a little plushie lying here on the stairway, probably from the grandchildren
that used to visit back in the time that they used to visit Marie and
Philippe, and they still lived here. Oh, another plushie lying here, and
more Christmas ornaments as well. They even designed their stairway over here. This
wonderful plant that stands here in the corner, a small swan underneath. That's also sort of intriguing
here. Oh, this was that bottle, wow, with all their medical supplies and all
their toothpastes and toothbrushes, everything still in there. That's absolutely wonderful.
Yeah, they could also overlook the backyard of the place, the whole backyard. Even the
perfume bottles and everything from Marie are still standing here. Is this perfume, or is
this some sort of a liquor? I have no clue. Look at the gold emblem on there. Vanilla, oh,
this is sort of a shower gel or something. All her combs and everything are also still there. Okay, here we can go further. It looks a little
bit messy here on the upper floors of this place, especially this hallway area. I see a television
standing there, a drawer standing here, lots of things all over the place. But I see
something in the corner of my eye that really piques my interest. Wow, look at this, a wonderful
depiction, and the woman you see on this picture is Marie, the owner of this place. And this looked
like the grandchildren that we have down there. This one is from 1980. And it says this
was Gerald that you see here on the picture and made in March, more for
you. Wow, a Polaroid picture. And I think these two that we have over
here, see if I can bring them in the picture, these are the sister and brother, the
daughter and the son of the family. This one's made in 2005. I love the
emblem that we have over here as well. Look at them sitting here at
the table, the daughter and this man we see over here. That was the
owner of the place, that was Philippe. Here's a small drawing from the grandchildren.
That's lovely. There's so much stuff left behind over here in this cabinet. Look at
that. We've got another picture over here. This also piques my interest. It's some
sort of a calendar learning journey. So we have Sunday, Saturday, Friday, Thursday,
Wednesday, Tuesday, and Monday, and then you could pull the days of the months throughout it to see
which day lines up with it or some sort. I have no clue, but it's very, very interesting. Lots of
letters and everything also still left here. Maybe we can have a quick look at this because they
look like, oh yeah, these look like photo albums. Look at that, all the pictures of the family still
left here. This is not made inside of the house; this is made somewhere else, a different place. So many pictures are always left inside of
these places. It's pretty sad in my opinion. Okay, let's go into the first room of the upper
floors here, and I think this was the grand master bedroom with a four-poster bed, as you can
see immediately when you come into this place. Wow, isn't this just a wonderful, wonderful
bedroom? And I think this bedroom was used by Marie and Felipe in the early days when
they still lived here. Let's have a look at this stand first before we go any further.
I love the vase that we have on top of here. Then, some books - 'Journey of the Earth in 80
Days', a typical French book. Beautifully designed shelf, and then a small bust we have standing
over here. 'Hey, I had the Balzac.' Okay, I won't cough. A lot of knick-knacks down here.
I love this one. Beautiful glasswork, everybody. Now just appreciate this bed for a moment. There
would have also been curtains all around it back in the day. It must have been wonderful for them
to sleep inside of here. It's crazy that after 17 years of abandonment, almost two decades, it's
still standing here. I love how the wallpaper over here to the side is slowly peeling off,
revealing the exposed brick of this place. This was the vanity of Mrs. Marie, where
she made herself beautiful in the morning. Wow! I hate that the chair is standing like
that in the corner. I'm going to give it some life again. This was her chair where she would
sit. She also had a little footrest over here to the side, a beautifully upholstered footrest.
Probably, she would rest her feet over here while she was making herself beautiful in the morning.
I love this red seat that we have over here. It's typically French. I've found
them all throughout this country and lots of abandoned manors and castles. But this vanity,
in my opinion, is very unique. Beautiful wood carvings on there, a very unique style, and
something unlike anything I've seen before. Absolutely beautiful, in my opinion. I love the statue. There's a lion that we
also have on top of here, a bronze lion. The grapes worked into the mirror above here. An upholstered chair. And I also have this
mirror standing here at the end of the room. Look, everybody, here's another
Indian statue of an Indian man. Let's move this away. All the bed linen, everything
still stored in there. A booth is standing next to it, and they also
had this sort of chess set here in the corner of the room. This is not a real gun; this is a
gun of the children. But here, they could also play chess. They could put two chairs around it
and then have a wonderful time playing on air. Look at this chair in the corner, everybody. This
is, to my opinion, one of the most extravagant chairs that I've ever seen. Castle or manor,
it doesn't matter. It's a really beautiful antique chair that probably must have cost so
much money and was such an intricate piece to build by its craftsman back in the time.
A full-on crest at the top of it. This one shouldn't be inside of this abandoned house.
There's a big pillow on top of there as well. I'm going to give you a great overview
of this very beautiful antique piece. Let's put it all back like we found it. What a room, everybody, what
a room! Let's go further. And then we can go further into the next room,
right next to the bedroom. This seems like a very unfinished room inside of the house. Probably,
they were redecorating or rebuilding the house but never really got to finish it back in their
time period. Wow! A very filled room as well, pieces of exercising equipment, a guitar, a sofa,
everything still inside of here. Jeez. Let's see if we can find something of interest
inside of this room. Oh, the first thing I see that really piques my interest is this
horse riding hat that we have over here, and this painting of horses on a
field, probably in this Nature Park. But what I can see behind it is also super
interesting. Look at that! That's the outside of the house, everybody, and there in the field
right next to it, you can see horses standing back in the time that the place was still used. The
house reflects the waters behind it. Beautiful! The glasses of Mr. Philippe are still lying here. Amazing. I used to have exactly
the same CD player as they had. We have on this side of the room...oh, that's so beautiful! Look at this. This is another
thing made by Sophie, one of his grandchildren. She made a lot of things; she probably wanted
to become an artist back in the time. Here we have a lovely depiction of the house again.
I love the style of this place, and here this one is from 1815 when this place was built. Here
they also call it a castle instead of a manor, so you could actually call this place a castle.
That's what they used to call it back in the time. Oh, something fell over. There's a beautiful
plant here in the corner, and here we have a Matchbox car still in its packaging, and another
one. Those lovely photo albums! Oh my gosh, this is at Christmas time, everybody. Look at
that. They had a happy Christmas dinner together. Wow, it's beautiful. It says it even over here: "Noel," Christmas in
2003. All the pictures are still inside of there. All the toys of the children
are also still left over here. You see the Lego that they used
to play with back in the time. Everything from the grandchildren is still
here. The grandchildren must now be around the age of adolescence, around 20 years old,
and it always boggles my mind seeing all of this inside of these places. Why they never
came to retrieve anything of it is beyond me. Furthermore, this room is
not very interesting except for all the weights. Philippe must
have been ripped back in the time. There's another stairway that can lead us even
further inside of the house, and here we can see even more unfinished parts of this place. The
walls have just been plastered but never painted. Very ugly hallway, in my opinion.
Let's see if this one opens up...it doesn't open up anymore. I don't
know what's behind this door. Here we can go to the next floor of the household.
There's even a couch standing here on the upper floors.
Let's see what we have inside of this room. Oh, a lot, a lot of bird poop. I think some
birds live inside of this area of the house. Geez, it also smells in here. I'm not
just going to stay in here for too long, but this is one of the children's beds, as you
can see. Maybe from the grandchildren later on? It's where they used to sleep. Even a dress! This
might have been the room of our lovely Sophie who left behind all those paintings and beautiful
artworks for her grandmother and grandfather. Wow, everything's still in here. These look
like anime books. She used to read anime books. Wonderful, she was a big fan, as you can
see. She collected those over the years. Even a trophy up there. I love all the Japanese stuff inside of this room. And here we have all the clothes still inside
of the cabinet, and these look like clothes from Philippe, not from Sophie. They look like
adult clothes instead of children's clothes. A little accountancy desk, a secretary desk
over here. Just to fathom, all her schoolwork, everything she used, still in there. I'm not going to stay too long. Let's head
out of this room. They even had an attic up here. It doesn't seem very interesting,
and it's nothing to risk my life for. Okay, over here in the corner of the
room, in the hallway, they also have these artworks that would be hung up throughout
the house. These little woodworks, these cars. Oh, this is a very, very interesting bedroom.
Look at that. There's also a children's bedroom. Oh my, see, there's a bunk bed on top
of it, and then there's an upholstery, blue upholstered bed underneath it. I really
adore this setup over here. So probably all the grandchildren would sleep on these upper
floors of the house, and maybe two in this room, and another one in the other room, as you can
see. And then Philippe and Marie would sleep downstairs in the heavenly bedroom. But look at
that, they literally placed an upholstered bed, one of those unique French style beds, inside
of this room especially for the grandchildren. The pillows are still lying on the
bed, still made from back in the time, and even a small lamp standing
next to it. Wonderful. Over here in the corner of the room, you have
this aquarium that has been completely filled with multiple bottles and pollution,
and everything. All the toys are still inside of the drawers, all the RC cars,
probably from the boy that slept here. Wow. Completely filled with toys. This always makes
me very, very sad to see a room like this, a children's room with all the toys and all the
memories from the children still inside of it but then abandoned. It's a very sad feeling
when you're standing inside of such a room. And even all the posters that we have on
the wall here are all still left, forgotten. I love the small lamp over here
in the corner, sort of a...oh, Probably a very expensive antique piece. So much stuff still left here. And
is this the only television that we have seen inside of the house?
In the living room, there was no, no...there's literally, this is the only
television inside of this complete house. These people definitely didn't love to watch
television. It's just for the children, I reckon. And then a big couch that the children
could chill on back in the time. And even more posters over here. Let me also
give you a quick glimpse from this upper window over here over the fields beyond the house.
That's where all the animals would stand. Far out here. Okay, let's close it up. What a wonderful place that we just filmed. A
diverse family of Philippe Emery. I absolutely adored going throughout this house and seeing
the antiques, the pictures, the memories, and everything that was left behind. I hope
they had a good life. Looking at their house, they definitely did. If you like this video,
please like it, subscribe to the channel if you're new here, and write a nice comment in the comment
section. There's also a link in the description for Patreon, and there you can support the channel
and help us go around the world and film these amazing places. Philippe, Marie, the children,
and everybody that lived here, thank you very, very much. And thank all of you for watching.
I love you, and I'll see you next week. Bye.
