A spectacular medieval chateau, restored with hotel-standard renovations, nestled in France's beautiful Berry province - ref 798968
A spectacular medieval chateau, restored with hotel-standard renovations, nestled in France's beautiful Berry province.
France's beautiful Berry area is a historical province and the former fiefdom of the Dukes of Berry, who were princes of the French royal family. To the south of this vast, bucolic region that has remained distinctly rural, the countryside is gently undulating. The Poitou province is nearby. And after that you are almost in the south of France. The Brenne regional nature park, with its thousand lakes, is close to the property, as is the delightful town of Argenton-sur-Creuse, which is officially recognised for its quaint charm and is often nicknamed the Venice of the Berry province. You can get onto a motorway in only a few minutes. On this motorway, you can reach Paris in three hours by car. From the local village train station, you can get to the town of Châteauroux, where direct trains take you to the French capital in 2 hours and 30 minutes.
The chateau's emblematic shape, with its tall towers and vast roofs, seems to rise up out of the landscape. The edifice was built in the 15th century. It originally had 14 towers and a keep, which made it one of the main strongholds in the region. During the French Wars of Religion, it became the property of Protestant families. Upon the orders of Cardinal Richelieu, the chateau was partly dismantled to weaken this Huguenot stronghold. Today, seven towers remain. The chateau was extensively restored in 1850 based on proposals from the famous French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Over the past thirty years, it has been renovated fully and masterfully. Several of its towers and even the keep have kept their original roof frames, which is truly remarkable given the changes made to the edifice over the centuries. All the elevations are made of rubble stone with pointing. The keep's facade and the crenellations along the top of the gatehouse's towers are made of ashlar. The keep, the main section and four of the seven towers are crowned with tall, steep slate roofs. The other towers have flat roofs, hidden behind crenellations. A series of outbuildings are grouped together and set back from the main edifice. They are arranged around several courtyards. The grounds slope down to a river. A swimming pool has been built on a grassy terrace. And a tennis court lies discreetly behind an outbuilding. From the property's commanding position, you can admire far-reaching views of the surrounding landscape.
The gatehouseThe gatehouse has two twin towers with flat roofs and crenellations. This pair of towers guards a paved entrance courtyard that leads to the keep. The keep's facade still bears the marks of a former drawbridge, which has been turned into a stone bridge. The coats of arms of the chateau's former lords are carved beneath 15th-century ogee arches. A timber openwork gate leads into the keep's vaulted passageway, which takes you to the courtyard.
The main edificeThe whole edifice is in excellent condition and has been restored completely. Inside, lounges and old weaponry rooms have been remarkably well preserved, as have the 20 bedrooms, each with their en-suite bathrooms of hotel-standard comfort.
The ground floor
In the main wings, which form an L shape around the courtyard, there are the chateau's old kitchens and guard rooms. Today, these spaces form three large reception rooms with a medieval spirit and an office in the south tower. The floors are covered with terracotta tiles and exposed stonework forms the walls, like outside. A lift has been installed. It connects to the different levels in the edifice. The chapel has two levels. Its groined vaults reach a ceiling height of eight metres from the floor. On either side of the covered entrance area ...
