Seasons1 of 4
This oak grew its own armchair. Five trunks rise from a single stool, and the hollows between them make a seat, which is how the Chêne Fauteuil got its name. The foresters here call it the King of the Forest. The measurements hold the nickname up. The cluster runs 6.8 metres round at chest height, and the tree was recorded at 285 years old in 1980, which puts its first season somewhere around 1695, in the closing years of Louis XIV. A plaque read on site in 2011 gave roughly 310 years. The two readings agree within a decade, so call it 300 to 340 years old today. It is not ageing quietly. There is dead branchwood in the crown, open holes in the stems, and a marked safety zone on the ground around the base, which visitors are asked to stay outside because pieces come down. You look at this one from a few metres back rather than sitting in the chair. It stands in state forest between three named road junctions, the Rond de Condé, the Rond de Monsieur and the Rond des Ruelles, on the 11.6 kilometre loop the forest signs as its venerable trees. The same walk takes in a three-stemmed oak by the D941, a lone sweet chestnut and a ring of Californian sequoias. Park at the Rond de Monsieur and give it ten to fifteen minutes on forest tracks.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Forêt domaniale de Senonches, near the Rond de Condé (between Rond de Condé, Rond de Monsieur and Rond des Ruelles), Senonches, Eure-et-Loir
You can recognise it by the five trunks rising from one stool, 6.8 metres round together, with the armchair hollow between them and a marked safety perimeter on the ground. It stands between the Rond de Condé and the Rond des Ruelles.
Free, no permission needed. State forest (forêt domaniale de Senonches, part of the Parc naturel régional du Perche), reached on foot from the Rond de Monsieur parking area along a marked forest path; part of an official 'venerable trees' waymarked walking loop. A small delimited safety zone is marked around the trunk itself because of falling deadwood, so visitors view it from just outside that perimeter rather than approaching the trunk.
No public transport realistically reaches the forest interior; park at Rond de Monsieur (car) and walk roughly 10-15 minutes on forest tracks to Rond de Condé. Nearest town is Senonches.
Winter shapeIn fruit
January, when the leaves are off and all five trunks read at once
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.
