A chateau, renovated in 1960, in the heart of 28 hectares of bucolic grounds where a river flows and large outhouses stand, nestled between the cities
A chateau, renovated in 1960, in the heart of 28 hectares of bucolic grounds where a river flows and large outhouses stand, nestled between the cities of Périgueux and Limoges.
The charming town of Thiviers lies in the north of France's Dordogne department, in the country's Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is perched upon a valley. Thiviers is a vibrant medieval town that offers shops and amenities. It is known as the south gateway to France's beautiful Périgord-Limousin regional nature park. The village is a former fortified settlement on the route from Limoges to Périgueux and a stop on the Camino de Santiago pilgrims' way. The surrounding countryside is made up of many deep, lush, wooded valleys where deer live. Schist stone buildings remind you that the area is geologically close to the Limousin region. From Thiviers train station, you can get to Paris via Limoges and to Bordeaux via Périgueux. There are some enchanting towns near the property too, including Excideuil, Hautefort, Jumilhac-le-Grand, Saint-Jean-de-Côle and Brantôme, which is nicknamed 'the Venice of Périgord'. The spectacular Auvézère gorges are also close.
The 28-hectare property stretches lengthways in the hollow of a narrow, isolated valley. Two riverbanks extend across several hundred metres beside a river flanked with meadows and forests. To reach the riverside woods, you can cross a wooden bridge that the current owners built. The property's four buildings stand in a walled garden. These enclosing walls run alongside a calm road and mark a boundary with the meadow beyond. Stone pillars frame a large gate that leads into a vast drive paved in an opus incertum pattern. The chateau towers straight ahead. Four corner bartizans give the edifice a slender, graceful style. The imposing edifice made of local stone is a harmonious structure made up of several sections, each with their own steep hipped roof of flat tiles. These sections form a U shape and are linked together with a central covered gallery. The elevations are dotted with different windows set in ashlar surrounds, revealing the building's different phases of construction. All the windows are fitted with indoor wooden shutters. The corner bartizans, which are either round with a cone roof or square with a pyramidal roof, are crowned with finials. Wall dormers with a hipped roof or large gable end punctuate the top of the elevations. Following a fire, the chateau was entirely restored in 1960. This work restored the roofs, the window surrounds, the pointing, the terrace paving, and the windows with their small panes, single glazing and wooden frames. The paved space extends up to three garages, a barn, a caretaker's house, a secondary gate and a huge cowshed that was built in the 1960s. The garden is made up of lawns with flowering plants, centred upon an ornamental pond. This space also includes a small shelter with a roof of flat tiles. On either side of the wall that separates the garden from the meadow, a few stone steps take you across this walled boundary.
The chateau
The ground floor
A studded wooden door on the west side leads into a vaulted entrance hall with a floor of large stone slabs. An imposing stone-and-brick fireplace with a straight chimney breast heats up this room. A corridor running alongside a stone staircase with two quarter-turns takes you to the reception rooms: a dining room that connects to a vast, bright lounge that has a floor of pale tiling patterned with small black square inserts, a French-style beamed ceiling painted yellow and a monumental stone fireplace. Next, there is a television lounge with a floor of patterned cement tiles and a vaulted room with a fireplace and a separate entrance door. A hall with red floral-patterned wallpaper leads to the northern dwelling, which used to be a single, spacious vaulted room with a fireplace. ...
