Les Essarts is the Forbes family estate atSaint-Briac,France, and the international family seat of the descendants of James Grant Forbes (b. Shanghai, China), a member of theForbes family of China and Boston who settled in Brittany atLes Essarts.[1][2] He is the grandfather of two famous politicians,Brice Lalonde, aGreen Party candidate for President ofFrance in 1981, and former US Secretary of StateJohn Forbes Kerry,[2] theDemocratic nominee forPresident of the United States of America in 2004. Many of the Forbes family have socialized during summers spent inBrittany atLes Essarts.[3]
Les Essarts had been occupied and used as a Nazi headquarters during World War II. When the Germans fled, they bombedLes Essarts and burnt it down.[2] The sprawling estate was rebuilt in 1954.