In 1773, in his "Histoire de la Ville de Pézenas", Pierre Poncet describes the country residence of Monsieur de Peyrat as a kind of farm "in the form of a castle, with magnificent pavilions, mazes, woods and the banks of the stream called Euriège which runs through it, all of which are enclosed by a high wall. The entrance is superb". The great garden wall and the superb entrance to the estate remain, but the extensive pleasure gardens with their pavilions, exotic animals and aviaries have long since disappeared.
Archaeological findings seem to indicate that the site was inhabited during Roman times; it was perhaps the site of one of the large villas of the Gallo-Roman period. However, the oldest part of the existing buildings is a vaulted room dating from the Middle Ages next to the wine cellar. What is visible today, renovated but otherwise little changed since it was built, is the 17th-century residence, which was extended and renamed Monplaisir when the pleasure gardens were created.
