A 17th-century chateau, partly renovated and with over 21 hectares of grounds, nestled in a village centre, just 10 minutes from Amboise, a charming t
A 17th-century chateau, partly renovated and with over 21 hectares of grounds, nestled in a village centre, just 10 minutes from Amboise, a charming town in France's Loire Valley.
The village lies to the east of the city of Tours in France's Loire Valley, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The environment is dotted with small lakes and streams and it is punctuated with villages where the whiteness of their tuffeau-stone edifices is paired harmoniously with majestic grounds and gardens. The charming town of Amboise, with its emblematic chateau, is very close to the property and you can admire the area's rich past through built heritage everywhere here. The region draws many visitors. The chateau stands in a commanding position in the middle of the village. On foot, you can reach shops and primary schools. From the train station in Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, around 30 kilometres away, you can get to Paris by rail in only 55 minutes. By car, you can reach the French capital in 2 hours and 30 minutes.
A driveway lined with plane trees leads up to the property's gate, framed between two tuffeau-stone pillars. This gate leads into a court of honour. In the middle of the court, a tall sequoia tree towers like a sentry. The chateau has a central section that was built in the 17th century and faces south. Its wing, which extends at a right angle to the main section, dates back to the 18the century. The ground floor and first floor of both these sections have been renovated, but the second floor, in the roof space, still needs to be renovated. The main section is designed to host guests. It houses vast reception rooms on the ground floor and five bedrooms with shower rooms and lavatories on the first floor. In the east wing, there is a self-contained dwelling, which also has reception rooms on the ground floor, as well as three bedrooms with shower rooms and lavatories on the first floor. On one side of the court of honour, an annexe and a caretaker's house complete the series of buildings. The caretaker's house is still being restored, but the main work has already been completed. In addition to the court, there is a play area, which is lower down, and a lawn behind the chateau, and the rest of the grounds extend over a wooded hillside mostly made up of oaks.
The chateauThe chateau was built in 1680 for Carlo Vigarani, an intendant of the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi - the royal department in charge of ceremonies, events and festivities. Vigarani also worked alongside Jean-Baptiste Lully at the head of the royal opera house. The edifice is classical in style, with tuffeau-stone elevations coated with rendering and with an architectural design typical of 17th-century France. The southern elevation, which is plainly designed, is punctuated with many windows set in stone surrounds. They are perfectly aligned with each other from the ground floor up to the first floor and also up to the second floor, where gabled dormers stand along the slate roof. A broad flight of front steps leads up into the central section. On the east side, a short, right-angled wing with a staircase ends with a steeply pointed gable wall. The northern elevation features two rectangular towers and an avant-corps with steep hipped roofs. In the middle, a few steps lead up to an entrance door, which stands beneath a triangular pediment. The roof is punctuated with bull's-eye windows and gabled dormers. In 1762, Jean-Joseph Bertrand, a knight of honour, bought the chateau. He extended it in 1765. He added a section in line with the right-angled wing. This section is made of the same materials as the original edifice but it is lower and narrower. Its windows are not aligned in the same way with each other as they are in the chateau's main section. A double winding flight of steps marks the end wall.
The ground floor
In the ...
