Marlinspike Hall in real life: Cheverny

Is Cheverny really Marlinspike Hall?

Yes, and Hergé said so himself. When readers asked whether Captain Haddock's house was a real place, he answered in 1975: "Moulinsart Castle was inspired by the central part of Cheverny Castle." He had been looking for a model in the years between the wars, and the house first appeared in 1942, in The Secret of the Unicorn. A Cheverny tourist brochure was also found in Hergé's files. On its cover is a faint pencil sketch of Tintin and Haddock walking towards the building, an early study for a scene readers now know well.

Spot the difference on the façade

Stand at the end of the drive and the match is easy to see. Hergé kept the central block, with its tall centre pavilion and the two ranges either side, and left out the two domed pavilions at the ends. He explained that it was one thing for Haddock to inherit a beautiful residence, and quite another to inherit a stately home. The real house was built between 1624 and 1630 for the Hurault family, to designs by Jacques Bougier of Blois. Its bright white comes from Bourré stone, a stone from the southern Loire Valley.

• Kept: the centre pavilion and the two ranges either side
• Removed: the two domed end pavilions
• Changed: the name, and the house's country. Hergé set Marlinspike in Belgium

Marlinspike in the Tintin books

Marlinspike Hall appears or is mentioned in 10 of the 24 Tintin albums. In The Secret of the Unicorn it belongs to the villains, the Bird brothers. By the end of Red Rackham's Treasure, Professor Calculus buys it for the Captain, whose ancestor Sir Francis Haddock built it. From then on it's home base for Tintin, Haddock, Calculus and Snowy, with Nestor the butler. In The Castafiore Emerald, almost all the action happens in the house and its grounds. The French name comes from Sart-Moulin, a Belgian village. The English one is a sailor's tool for splicing rope.

• French: Château de Moulinsart
• Dutch: Kasteel Molensloot
• German: Schloss Mühlenhof
• Danish: Møllenborg Slot

Inside The Secrets of Marlinspike Hall

The exhibition opened in 2001 in the château's outbuildings, after contact with the Fondation Hergé in 1996. It covers 700 square metres, with life-size reproductions of the main rooms of Moulinsart and Professor Calculus's laboratory. You get a booklet at the door, then enter the underground passages where Tintin is held prisoner in The Secret of the Unicorn. Further on are Haddock's rooms, a bedroom for Tintin that appears in no album, Sir Francis Haddock's fight with Red Rackham, and the shark-shaped submarine. Allow about 30 minutes. The exhibition is air-conditioned, which helps on a hot afternoon.

Exhibition hours and tickets

Tickets are sold only at the estate's ticket office, with no reservations. The exhibition comes with two of the four ticket types: château and gardens with the exhibition, or everything including the boat and electric-car ride. The plain château and gardens ticket doesn't cover it. The exhibition closes for an hour at lunch. Children under 7 get in free. The ticket office takes cash and cards except American Express. The Tintin shop by the car park opened in 2022 and sells Hergé's albums, figurines and clothes.

• 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027: 10:00 to 12:45 and 13:45 to 17:00
• 1 April to 30 September: 9:15 to 12:45 and 13:45 to 18:00
• 1 July to 31 August: the afternoon session runs to 18:30

The rest of the real house

Haddock's Marlinspike is full of art and old furniture, and so is Cheverny. Seventeen rooms are open across three floors, while the Hurault de Vibraye family lives in the right-hand wing. The dining room has 34 painted panels by Jean Mosnier telling the story of Don Quixote. Upstairs, the King's Bedchamber has a bed in which Henri IV once slept, and the arms room has kept its 17th-century decoration. A booklet guides you round in about 40 minutes. On some days a member of staff leads a 45-minute guided tour for an extra fee. The October dates are in French.

Read next: Inside Château de Cheverny: The Hurault Legacy

Seeing it on the day tour from Paris

The tour we link to is a 13-hour coach day run by Extime Travel. It leaves from outside the Pullman Paris Centre Bercy hotel, at 1 Rue de Libourne, and visits Chenonceau, Cheverny and Chambord. The order can vary, and on Mondays and Saturdays in summer, Amboise replaces Chambord. The tour includes the coach and entrance tickets to the châteaux. A licensed guide or an audio guide depends on the option you pick. Lunch, tips and headphones aren't included. The Tintin exhibition isn't listed among the inclusions, so if it's your main reason to go, ask the operator before you book. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before.

• Included: air-conditioned coach, châteaux entrance tickets
• Depends on option: licensed guide, or audio guide through the operator's app
• Not included: lunch, tips, headphones
• Not allowed: pets, luggage or large bags

Getting there on your own

Without a tour, take a high-speed train from Paris-Austerlitz to Blois-Chambord, about 1 hour 40 minutes. From early April to early November only, a shuttle bus on the Azalys network runs from Blois station to the châteaux. Another rail option is Vendôme-Villiers-sur-Loir, 50 minutes from Paris-Montparnasse, but Vendôme is 30 km from Blois. By car, leave the A10 at exit 17 for Blois and follow signs for Romorantin. The estate has three free car parks. It also sits on the Loire à Vélo cycle route, with free bike parking at the entrance.

Read next: Getting to Cheverny from Blois, Tours and Paris

Planning your time at the estate

The estate is open every day of the year, with no closing day. From 1 October to 31 March the château opens 10:00 to 17:00. From April to September it's 9:15 to 18:00, or 18:30 in July and August. The estate suggests 1h30 to 1h45 for the château and gardens, or 2h15 to 2h30 with the Tintin exhibition. The visitable area is compact, and the château is a three-minute walk from the ticket office. Older guides describe a daily feeding of the estate's hounds. The current estate map and visitor pages don't mention the kennels, so ask at the ticket office rather than planning around it.

Who this isn't for

If you want a full Tintin museum, this isn't one: it's a 30-minute exhibition beside a working château, so pair it with the house and gardens. If you're travelling with a child under 3 or use a wheelchair, the Paris coach tour isn't suitable. Inside the château, ten steps without a handrail lead to the ground floor. And if Tintin is the whole point, remember the coach tour shares one day between three châteaux. The train and shuttle, or a car, lets you set your own time at Cheverny.