The Chateau You Should Visit Instead of Versailles

Chateau de Versailles can keep its 7 million visitors a year. I’ve got my own little-known gem of the Parisian countryside that you’d find if you drive 15 minutes further up the road from the sun king’s famed royal residence. The garden is filled with 18th century follies that would have made Marie Antoinette green with envy,…

The Vault

Lunch at the Forgotten Rothschild Party Palace

I stood looking up at the gates, hands on my hips, wondering what forgotten chateau I’d stumbled upon this time. We’d taken a detour to avoid the traffic back into Paris and suddenly pulled over into the ditch by the side of the road at my absolute insistence. What I didn’t know then, peeping through…

Pssst! You've stumbled across content that is exclusive to Nessy's Keyholders.

There’s a new way to access the really special stuff from Messy Nessy Chic …

Hidden beneath the surface layers of the internet, there’s a place where we keep our most secret addresses, untapped archives, creator’s inspiration, collector’s guides, explorer’s manuals, obscure research and much more… And it’s made for our keyholders only!

Apply now to unlock the Vault

Keyholder Login

The Transgender French Spy History Forgot

The Chevalier d’Eon knew how to turn heads. She was charming to boot, and an unmatched swordfighter; an impeccable spy for the French government, and capable of dazzling the Empress of Russia. Above all, she found the courage to publically affirm her identity as a transgender woman — an especially intimidating task in 18th century.…

The Accidental Time Travel Incident with Marie Antoinette

Everyone can relate to taking a wrong turn on vacation – but few can boast taking a turn back in time to hang with Marie-Antoinette. That is, unless you’re Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain. It was 1901, when the two women, both academics hailing from Britain, decided to take a holiday to France and…

The American Marie Antoinette of Pre-War Paris

Her private villa in Versailles hosted the last great Parisian party before the storm of World War II, attended by Coco Chanel, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and the Rothschilds. Paris fashion experts named her the best-dressed woman in the world and her eye for design catapulted her to the higher echelons of Parisian…

They Built a Luxury Marble Palace for Horses in China

When I first stumbled upon this photograph, I thought it was photoshopped, or some kind of practical joke involving horses horsing around in the lobby of a luxury hotel (see what I did there?). Alas, the internet is not trying to fool us, this is indeed an actual marble-floored horse stable that exists in China as…

A Billionaire’s Fairytale Replica Chateau Sitting Empty next to Versailles

Parisians would probably like to think they know of all the major Châteaux in their vicinity. There is of course Versailles, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, Fontainebleau, and the hunting palace of Chantilly. But just a fifteen minute drive from the heart of Paris, nestled deep within thick forest walls, lies a jaw-dropping chateau, or a not-so-mini version of Versailles,…

Backstage at Versailles: A Handyman’s Tour of the Palace

Robert Polidori has the keys to the palace. But not the perfectly-polished, museum-ready palace we’re used to seeing from behind the velvet ropes. In the 1980s, the Canadian-born photographer won a contract to document the ongoing restoration of the historic French palace, giving him and his camera lense an all-access pass to backstage Versailles. When…